Green proposes review of Philly pension buyouts for city retirees

A Philadelphia councilman is calling for hearings to discuss pension buyouts for city employees.

Philadelphia Councilman Derek Green said Thursday he is intrigued by the concept of offering buyouts instead of monthly payments to retired city workers as a way  of cutting long-term obligations in the city pension plan.

“Just an interesting and creative way of addressing the issue we have to address — our pension system, which is currently about 45 percent funded.” Green said.

Just how the buyouts would be structured is up in the air.

“There’s multiple ideas in reference to how to address the concept,” Green said. “I just wanted to start the conversation … various jurisdictions around the nation have also looked at this as a way of trying to address unfunded pensions.”

City Controller Alan Butkovitz has also called for the buyouts as a partial fix to the city’s pension shortfall.

The city’s pension fund is $5 billion short of its $11 billion obligation to city workers’ pensions.