Rhode Island

Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo scheduled regional meetings designed to educate public employees about how the Rhode Island Retirement Security Act of 2011 will affect their retirement eligibility and pension benefits, as well as extended hours for retirement counselors.

Providence retirees could face a 73% haircut on their pension benefits if Rhode Island’s capital city files for Chapter 9 protection, a bankruptcy expert says.

Great-West Retirement Services and TIAA-Cref are the finalists to administer Rhode Island's new defined contribution pension program by a unanimous vote of the State Investment Commission, General Treasurer Gina Raimondo announced.

Warning that "Providence is in peril," Mayor Angel Taveras repeated his call for retirees to accept pension cuts and tax-exempt institutions to pay more, to keep the city from running out of money by the end of June.

The Rhode Island State Investment Commission this week will hear presentations from the four vendors recommended as semifinalists to administer the state’s new defined-contribution program, according to General Treasurer Gina Raimondo.

A Rhode Island Superior Court judge’s preliminary injunction preventing the state’s capital, Providence, from moving retirees who are 65 and older off the city’s health insurance plan and into Medicare is a credit-negative, said Moody’s Investors Service.

Unlike many of its Rhode Island neighbors, Jamestown “is in good fiscal shape,” an auditing firm told its Town Council.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras warned that the Rhode Island capital will run out of money in June without a reduction in pension obligations and larger contributions from tax-exempt institutions such as Brown University.

Providence may appeal a Rhode Island Superior Court ruling Monday that for now stops it from switching police and fire retirees to Medicare after they turn 65.

Rhode Island’s cash advance to East Providence is a credit positive for the financially strapped city, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Rhode Island has received 12 proposals from vendors seeking to run the state's new defined-contribution program, which pension overhaul legislation passed last fall created.

A federal bankruptcy judge’s approval of collective bargaining contracts between bankrupt Central Falls and retired employees is a credit positive for the city, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo’s office will host a workshop Tuesday for municipalities with locally administered pension plans in advance of the reporting deadline set by the recently passed Rhode Island Retirement Security Act.

Five days after it placed Woonsocket, R.I., on review for downgrade, Moody's Investors Service lowered the city's long-term general obligation rating to Ba2 from Ba1, affecting $225 million of parity debt.

A bill to provide East Providence a $12.6 million advance on state education aid to prevent it from running out of cash Friday is headed for Rhode Island’s Senate.

Bond lawyers and restructuring experts agreed that bankruptcy court approval of pension agreements between Central Falls, R.I., and its retirees and public sector unions is good for the bond market.

Patrick Rogers will resign Friday as chief of staff and executive counsel to Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee. George Zainyeh will succeed him.

Rhode Island General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, who championed the state law that changed the pension system for public employees, received the 2011 Urban Innovator Award from the Manhattan Institute for Public Research.

Moody's Investors Service on Thursday placed the Ba1 general obligation bond rating of Woonsocket, R.I., on review for possible downgrade, affecting about $205 million of debt.

Rhode Island two months ago overhauled its public employee pension system, but its work is far from over.