The Albuquerque Journal has the scoop on the proposal from the N.M. Educational Retirement Board:
“Under the new proposal, all school employees would be required to increase their annual contributions to the pension fund by an additional half-percent of salary. Employees earning less than $20,000 each year would pay 8.4 percent; employees earning more would pay the fund 9.9 percent of their salaries. The half-percent would create about $14 million in new annual revenue for the retirement fund, said ERB Executive Director Jan Goodwin.
“The program will also delay retirement for some. In order to retire, teachers and staff would be required to have at least 30 years of service to retire at age 60 or older; they would need 35 years of service to retire before then. Current eligibility allows retirement after 25 years of service or any combination of age and tenure that adds up to 75.”
The ERB modified its program in 2009 to save money, but that only affected new employees of the state’s public K-12 schools and universities. According to the Journal, Goodwin said the fund is solvent for a “very long time” but the goal is to make it solvent indefinitely.
The Journal quoted some educators who are outraged and will oppose the changes. The ERB will vote on the proposed changes Jan. 9; the Legislature and governor would also have to approve them for them to be enacted.