State officials still haven’t decided whether they’ll give state employees their money back, or take the fight to the Supreme Court. Look for the decision early next week. And, by the way, the pot now exceeds $72 million.
On Nov. 10 employees, as required by the Legislature, began paying 3 percent of their salaries toward retiree health care. But on Aug. 26 the state Court of Appeals ruled the Legislature’s action was unconstitutional.
The state had 42 days to give the money back, or appeal. Time runs out on Oct. 6.
Incidentally public school employees are in the same boat, but a different lake, so to speak; a much bigger lake, it so happens. Kurt Weiss, spokesman for the state Department of Technology, Management and Budget, put it this way:
“Two separate pots: two separate court cases.”
In fact, the public school employees’ escrow account, as of Friday, totaled $275,112,738.87.
