New Hampshire pension fund liability balloons in two years, with brunt of cost on taxpayers
GEOFF FORESTER
Published: 3/17/2021 5:03:49 PM
Last year, Concord boosted the salaries of its police department by nearly $1 million above and beyond contractual raises.
Those pay increases carried a hidden cost through rising contribution rates to the New Hampshire Retirement System, which will compound city spending even higher.
In 2019, the city paid its officers and other police employees about $8 million in salary, overtime and other payouts. On top of that amount, Concord paid more than $2 million on behalf of police employees into the retirement system.
This July, those contributions – based on higher wages in the city’s police force and rising retirement rates – will increase by another $750,000, maybe more.