***FACT CHECK: Tom Wolf’s Budget*** Tom Wolf And The Pension Crisis

Pennsylvania is currently facing a pension crisis that “threatens to bankrupt the state as well as just about every school district in the Commonwealth.” (Editorial, “Corbett’s Conviction,” Bucks County Courier Times, 7/2/2014)

Tom Wolf doesn’t believe we have a pension crisis. (Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents’ Association (PLCA) and the Widener University School of Law, Law and Government Institute Debate in Harrisburg, 4/9/2014)

  • Tom Wolf said “we don’t have a crisis” during a debate in Harrisburg. (Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents’ Association (PLCA) and the Widener University School of Law, Law and Government Institute Debate in Harrisburg, 4/9/2014)
  • Tom Wolf said “it’s not a crisis” during a debate in Philadelphia. (Gubernatorial Forum On Education in Philadelphia, 4/30/2014)

Failure to act on Pennsylvania’s pension crisis will “crippl[e] local school budgets,” and lead to higher property taxes(Evan Brandt, “Pa. Pension Time Bomb Part 5: Crisis cripples local school budgets,” Pottstown Mercury, 6/8/2014)

“Pensions costs consume 60 cents of every new dollar of state revenues.” (Brad Bumsted and Melissa Daniels, “Pa. Legislature approves $29.1B budget; Corbett withholds signature,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 6/30/2014)

Taxpayer contributions to state pension plans are projected to nearly TRIPLE in just four years! (“Pension Reform Fact Sheet,” Office of the Budget, Accessed 7/7/2014)

From $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2013-2014, to $4.3 billion in fiscal year 2017-2018. (“Pension Reform Fact Sheet,” Office of the Budget, Accessed 7/7/2014)

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