Finally Someone Noticed the Skim at TRS

This month the Citizens Budget Commission discovered a city funded subsidy for the teachers TDA fund at the NYC Teachers Retirement Fund (TRS), better late than never.

In 2013 I stumbled on the fact that TRS had a persistent negative cash flow.

Then in 2014 someone reminded me of something I sort of knew but never understood the full impact.

I can not understand how the city allows this massive benefit to exist. It puts the entire TRS retirement structure at risk. The teachers have a very respectable pension benefit. This subsidy to the TDA program is irresponsible in that it pulls assets, $1.2B in FY-2015, out of the pension fund every year. I can see how the teachers love this benefit but if all the other city workers find out about this, there will be hell to pay.

Note: the skim for FY-2016 is $1.354B.