Could state pension COLAs or stipends be on the horizon? Key lawmaker asks for a price tag.

PROVIDENCE – While he made no promises, Rep. Marvin Abney, D-Newport, chairman of the budget-writing House Finance Committee, quietly asked the state treasurer this week to provide budget-writers with the potential price tag of each of 14 pending bills to give Rhode Island's retired public employees a pension boost.

Asked what this signifies, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi told The Journal on Thursday: "We want accurate information and cost analysis, and the professional way to get it is" to ask the state treasurer's office for "a study by the state's actuaries."

Does this mean some boost in retiree benefits is likely? Shekarchi said: "I don't want to predict that. I can give you a much better answer when I get that information."

More on pensions: A decade after RI 'pension reform,' anger and suspicion still rule the conversation.

Bills would either restore COLAs or give a stipend

The bills fall into two broad categories: reinstating "cost of living adjustments" or COLAs, to some degree, or giving a one-time stipend in place of COLAs.

The retirees themselves are divided.

More than 1,430 pensioners who retired before the dramatic 2011 pension-overhaul led by then-Treasuer Gina Raimondo have petitioned the lawmakers for the full reinstatement of the COLAs they were getting annually until lawmakers agreed to rein in the spiraling taxpayer cost.

For many, "pension reform" meant the suspension of the 3% compounded increases they were getting every year. And for others, something a bit less that nonetheless, provided an annual increase.

The retirees have gotten periodic increases in the decade plus, since "pension reform."

But annual COLAs are not scheduled to resume until the pension fund for state and municipal employees and public school teachers has 80% on hand of what it will need to meet all of its current and future obligations. The projected return date: 2031.

Older retirees told lawmakers they may not live long enough to see that happen.

Another pocket of retirees hired former state Rep. Robert Jacquard to make a case to the House Finance Committee for a one-time stipend of 3% of a retiree's first $30,000 in benefits, meaning up to $900.

More: RI state retirees again beg legislators to restore pension COLAs wiped out in 2011 reform

By Jacquard's estimates, the potential cost to the state would be between $18 million and $21 million out of the state's general fund, as opposed to the retirement fund.

But more than one retiree asked: why bother? Retired teacher Lorraine Savard even labeled as "utterly insulting" the one-time $500 stipend that current Treasurer James Diossa himself proposed.

COLAs were costly for the state

There is no question that the restoration of full annual COLAs to all retirees would cost more. The only question is how much more in annual state – which means taxpayer – appropriations to reinstate these retiree benefits.

From the retiree's point of view, these annual adjustments compounded each year, piling on each other and raising a retired teacher’s "average pension" from $40,151 in 2006 to $43,053 by 2011.

But the COLAs’ price tag jumped from $62.9 million to $104 million over those same five years for retired teachers. For retired state workers, it went from $43.6 million to $64.6 million, according to the state's pension consultant.

The cost-analysis that Abney is requesting coincides with final decision- making on the new state budget lawmakers are expected to unveil in the next two weeks.

Asked the timeline for producing the cost estimates that Abney has requested, spokeswoman Michelle Moreno-Silva said: "The time to respond will vary depending on the complexity and language of the bill.."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI state pensioners could see COLAs or stipends as lawmaker asks for price tag