Scott administration admits to misleading $20 million error

The Scott administration says the governor made an error last week in his budget address when he said he would pay $20 million “more than required” to pay down teacher retirement liabilities.

That statement was incorrect.

In fact, the Scott administration is not making an additional payment toward the overall $2.7 billion in unfunded liabilities for teacher and state worker retirement obligations, it is merely making the required annual payment of $124 million.

In his speech, Scott painted a dark picture of the state’s economic future, in part as a result of the state’s unfunded retirement liability. He told lawmakers it is “increasingly difficult” to maintain the state’s Triple A bond rating because of the state’s shrinking workforce and the amount of retirement debt now carried by Vermonters.

Then the governor suggested that he planned to take action immediately. “Put simply, the difference between the money we set aside to pay benefits is hundreds of millions of dollars less than it should be. And if we do nothing, these unfunded liabilities will be more than we raise in annual revenue,” Scott said. “It’s time to deal with this issue, head on.”

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2018/01/31/scott-administration-admits-misleading-20-million-error/