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Gov. Patrick Vows To Reform State Pension System

Governor Deval Patrick is vowing to reform the state's pension system, which he says unfairly enriches some retired government workers at taxpayer expense. WBUR's Sacha Pfeiffer reports.

Double pensions. MBTA pension packages that let workers retire in their 40s with full benefits. A full year of retirement pay for a single day's work. Those are some of the abuses in the state retirement system that Governor Patrick says he plans to end. And Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxypayers Foundation, says reform is necessary.

MICHAEL WIDMER: "This is long overdue and I'm very pleased that these kinds of abuses and excesses that have been going on for so long may finally come to an end, given the fiscal crisis and public outrage over these kinds of excesses."

Patrick says the reforms would most likely apply only to future retirees because of legal limits on changing the system retroactively. For WBUR, I'm Sacha Pfeiffer.

This program aired on March 23, 2009. The audio for this program is not available.

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