“The pension cost shift does not save money, rather shifts the burden onto local property tax payers,” said Davidsmeyer. “At a time when property taxes are already too high, we can’t continue to force the burden and difficult decisions down to local leaders.”
HR27 states that schools already pay for “locally-negotiated early retirement options.” In FY12 local schools paid over $92million in teacher pension costs.
“A pension shift will devastate the rural schools in my district. It will create massive inequities between property rich school districts and rural agriculture based districts,” said Davidsmeyer.
“I oppose unfunded mandates on our school districts. I truly believe that if an idea is worth mandating then it is worth fully-funding. This pension cost shift is another unfunded mandate on local school districts that will raise property taxes and hurt future generations.”