Gary Harnois

Good afternoon,

Let me start by saying how much I appreciate this group being formed. I am a retired firefighter with 30 years of service. I took my regular retirement when the stress of my job became to great and started causing health issues.

When the pension rules were changed by Governor Raimondo back in 2011, the financial impact would create a great imbalance with a retirees pension. The change essentially doesn’t allow any cost of living adjustments and basically forces “retirees” to get side jobs just to pay for basic, every day needs. I will be due to get about 300 dollars for a cost of living adjustment in a year if the fund allows it. That money doesn’t begin to put a dent in my families financial needs. As far as the straight pension goes, at 20 years of service we lost 1/2 % per year increase in our pension formula. Originally, we accrued 2.5 percent and it was lowered to 2%.

The half percent would have minimally given an extra 5% to my base pension which would have helped with my family needs. With a decrease in pension and essentially no cola, how can family’s afford to live comfortably in this extremely expensive country we live in. I was told that I would receive X when I retired and somehow, I received Y

Please considered altering the pensions to help the people that put in a full career that can hardly afford healthcare with the money they receive. Thank you for your time.

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