Dear COBA Members;

There has been a lot of talk recently about a possible Statewide Early Retirement Incentive that may have been included in the State's Budget this year.

This week the Budget was agreed upon by the Governor and the State Legislature. Unfortunately, while there is a Retirement Incentive included, it will only pertain to New York City Workers.

The reason for this is because of the Stimulus package that is coming from the Federal Government. With the Stimulus money, interest waned in a Statewide Incentive that in many cases would have been utilized to prevent layoffs and eliminate positions in a post Covid doomsday budget scenario. The Federal money will be used to bail out many Counties across the State from enormous debt that was realized during the Pandemic from all the lost revenue, particularly Sales Tax Revenue that evaporated.

We know numerous COBA Members were following this issue closely, with some holding off on retirement plans. The only thing we can state for sure is that although this news may be disappointing, at least we know where this issue stands now and all those affected can plan accordingly moving forward.

In Unity;

Brian Sullivan, COBA President