New pension coalition debuts

TALLAHASSEE — A new political coalition announced its formation in Tallahassee today: Floridians for Sustainable Pensions wants to move taxpayer dollars out of public pension programs.

Groups like Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and Florida TaxWatch have come together to push for replacing public pension contributions made by taxpayers with individual retirement savings plans, which would resemble the private sector's 401(k) option.

David Matkin, an assistant professor at Florida State University and a speaker at today's press event, cited results from the coalition's early research findings that suggest public pensions aren't currently collecting the funding they need to provide the same level of benefits in future years. “Counties are only investing approximately 40% of what they need to and large cities only 31%,” Matkin estimated.

“We have the most comprehensive data on Florida local governmental retirement benefits that exists,” Matkin added.