Fire Fighters Sue Providence After GoLocal’s Riley Unveils Missing $60 Million
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Providence Fire Fighters' Union is Suing the City of Providence for $60 million in missing Pension Funds.
IAFF Local 799 today announced the intention to file a lawsuit against the City of Providence regarding use of a decades-old accounting process that does not correctly represent the funds available in the City’s pension system. This accounting flaw was unveiled by GoLocalProv's MINDSETTER™ Mike Riley who unveiled the missing funds in the pension system in GoLocalProv last October. Riley has written repeatedly about the implications to the City's pension fund and the potential long-term impact on the City's budget. Riley's investigation may lead to an SEC probe.
The lawsuit filed by the Fire Fighter's Union will seek to force Providence to make a $60 million ARC payment into the pension system immediately, as they had reported in previous audits.
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“As I’ve said in the past – it is easy for politicians to play loose and fast with the ARC payment, quietly borrowing millions of dollars, required and promised to city workers, by not paying their annual required contributions. We worked hard, in the very recent past, to step in and negotiate reasonable reforms to the city pension system – but this causes significant concern. We want to be sure that the sacrifices we made were truly made in good faith and comply with all applicable laws and regulation.
Related Slideshow: Providence Pension Liability
A new report shows that Providence’s pension fund—even after the recent reform—is still in trouble. The below slides break out the key numbers for the pension fund, including the unfunded liability, the assumed and actual rates of return, the current level of benefits, and how long it will take the city to pay off the unfunded liability. Figures are current as of July 1, 2013 and are taken from the new Jan. 31 actuarial report from Segal Consulting.
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