Cliff Hamm

I have been retired since 2004.  I previously worked a few years in Massachusetts but came to Rhode Island largely because of the superior pension.  Little did I know that the COLA would be stolen from us by the previous Treasurer/Governor. We paid almost 10% per year of our salary for a promised pension with a COLA.

When inflation was low it was survivable.  It no longer is.  From CNBC recently, " Higher prices have made it difficult for Social Security beneficiaries to keep up, even with a record boost to  benefits for 2023...rising costs means beneficiaries have lost 36% of their buying power since 2020...To be able to live as well on Social Security benefits as in 2000, today's retirees would need an extra $516.70 per month".  

Now imagine you have not received a COLA since 2012.  It is devastating.  Over 10 years an individual with a 50k pension should now have a $67,196 pension and would have lost approximately 90k from what was promised due to so called pension reform.  After 20 years a 50k pension should now be $90,300, but would have lost a total of 290k from what was promised!!! Now imagine that your spouse was also an educator...well you get the picture...we're talking real money - well over 1/2 million dollars will have been stolen from me - and I now fear my financial future when I thought with a promised COLA I would be financially secure.  

The previous treasurer/governor distorted information, made poor investments with astronomical fees, enriched herself and her financial friends and moved her political career forward.  This is money we were promised and paid a substantial part of our salary toward.  When the COLA ended we were not allowed to get our jobs back despite retiring with certain assumptions.  It is simply immoral and unjust what has happened.

We were told there was no choice. Of course that was after the former treasurer adjusted the expected investment return, longevity for retirees, insisted on an arbitrary 80% funding level, etc... But where did the savings go???  Into other state priorities.  The savings from eliminating the COLA do not appear to really have  saved the state anything as the state budget increases astronomically despite the COLA elimination.

The Treasurer lied to us.  The General Assembly failed us.  The courts failed us.  As I recall. if you did not return a ballot you were counted as voting for the pension changes.  I did not receive a ballot!!

I suspect and hope you are well aware of the shenanigans that have taken place.  Many, many articles by Ted Siedle among others.  The biggest robbery in Rhode Island history.  Of course, there will be arguments that the state can't afford it.  Of course they can afford it if they want to.  It is a matter of choice and more importantly ethics.  A restored compounded 3% COLA on our entire pension is owed us.  It was promised and then taken away.  Simply wrong with lives ruined and many now deceased.

Please do the right thing.

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