Public Employee Pension Coalition Letter

Governor Mark Dayton

Office of the Governor and Lt. Governor
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155

Dear Governor Dayton:

Thank you for defending our retirement security and our defined-benefit pensions.

The people who do Minnesota’s work have deferred their wages for a pension that allows them to retire comfortably with guaranteed income.  Our modest benefits, combined with Social Security, are the difference between dignity and poverty.

People are living longer in Minnesota.  Today’s sixty-five-year-olds are expected to live two years longer.  Two more years of collecting a benefit will cost the retirement systems more.  We’re grateful that your proposed budget includes an increase in the employer’s contribution to help public workers cover those costs for the 2018-19 biennium.  It is the most significant investment ever proposed.

We encourage you to tap the surplus to budget for public pensions in the out years.  Together, with shared sacrifice, we can ensure there are sufficient funds to pay promised benefits to retirees, active employees and future hires.

    

Investing in public pensions benefits the economy.  In 2016, nearly 200,000 Minnesotans received a benefit from one of the public pension plans in our state, totaling more than $4 billion.  Spending by recipients provides a steady economic stimulus to Minnesota communities and our state economy.  One person’s spending becomes another person’s income, creating a multiplier effect.  Retirees of state and local government put three times as much money back into our state economy as is collected by public pension plans from taxpayers through employer contributions.  

Minnesota’s active and retired public workers are fortunate to have you as their champion. 

Warm regards and gratitude,

AFSCME Council 5, AFSCME Council 65, AFSCME Chapter 5 Retirees, Communications Workers of America MN State Council, Conservation Officers Association, Education Minnesota, Education Minnesota Retired, Middle Management Association, Minneapolis Committee of Thirteen Pension PAC, Minneapolis Firefighters Local 82, Minnesota AFL-CIO, Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, Minnesota Government Engineering Council, Minnesota Nurses Association, Minnesota Police Fraternal Association, Minnesota Professional Firefighters Association, Minnesota State College Faculty, Minnesota State Patrol Troopers Association, Police Officer’s Federation of Minneapolis, Retired Educators Association of Minnesota, SEIU Local 284, St. Paul Teacher's Pension PAC, Teamsters Local 320