Levy: No slots for retirement

Friday, Feb. 10, 2006

Key House leaders are promising that legislation boosting teachers’ pensions will pass this year, but details and costs have yet to be worked out.

Members of the House Appropriations Committee have been meeting for several weeks to develop a proposal. The negotiations come amid fierce lobbying by the state teachers union, a key Democratic constituency that says Maryland’s teachers’ retirement plan is well below national standards.

And Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and horseracing lobbyist Gerard E. Evans are holding out hope that teachers’ pensions can be linked to legalizing slot machines.

If a slots bill can be agreed to by the House and the Senate, Ehrlich (R) said he would be happy to devote the proceeds to school construction and teachers’ pensions.

But House Speaker Michael E. Busch, who has blocked slots for three years, said the two issues should not be linked.

Opponents contend that gambling revenue is not a stable funding source, so tying pensions to it would not be fiscally responsible.

‘‘They are two different issues and should not be connected,” said Del. Murray D. Levy, a pensions expert on the appropriations committee.

The union has no position on slots, said its president, Patricia A. Foerster.

There is plenty of political will to move a bill this year, said Levy (D-Dist. 28) of La Plata, but the sticking point is the cost. The measure will not be the $480 million overhaul the union has requested, he said.

‘‘We have enough money to take care of our teachers,” Levy said. ‘‘If this group makes a decision on the direction we want to go, there is enough horse power in the room to make it happen.”

Several complicated issues still have to be worked out, including how much teachers should contribute to their pensions, if the reform will be applied retroactively and if the enhancement will be applied to all state employees, not just teachers. All are variables that affect the overall price of the plan.

‘‘There’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes right now,” Foerster said. ‘‘I believe that legislators understand the importance of this issue and are ready to take up the task seriously.”