PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The actuarial firm being sued by the City of Providence over its alleged errors in calculating pension savings is objecting to the city’s move to delay Mayor Angel Taveras’s deposition until after the Sept. 9 primary.

Comment

By
Katie Mulvaney
Posted Aug. 12, 2014 @ 11:02 am

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The actuarial firm being sued by the City of Providence over its alleged errors in calculating pension savings is objecting to the city’s move to delay Mayor Angel Taveras’s deposition until after the Sept. 9 gubernatorial primary.

The city last week filed an emergency motion for a protective order seeking to postpone until after the Sept. 9 primary election Taveras’s questioning under oath about his decisions regarding changes to the city’s retirement system. In addition, it asks U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith to limit his deposition, now set for Aug. 19, to three hours, given the “press of city business.”

Taveras is facing General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, political newcomer Clay Pell and Bristol contractor Todd Giroux for the Democrat nomination for governor.

Buck Consultants LLC – which performed financial analyses for the city since 1920 – argues Taveras’s deposition is imperative to its defense of the city’s lawsuit, , accusing the firm of overstating the city’s savings by $700,000 a year, boosting its pension liability to $10.8 million more than expected over the next 28 years.

“Mayor Taveras is not a mere bystander to this dispute,” Buck writes. “As the City’s highest elected official, he is a critically important witness.”

The firm looks to question Taveras not only about his decision making in pushing for an ordinance suspending cost-of-living adjustments for retirees but also statements he has made throughout his campaign.

According to the city’s lawsuit , figures provided by Buck Consultants were used by the Taveras administration in winning pension concessions from police officers, firefighters, retirees and others. If the city knew Buck’s numbers were flawed, the administration would not have agreed to the pension changes that Providence is now bound to honor, the lawsuit states.