Don't Let Unions Slow Police Pension Fund

Most New Yorkers spend little time thinking about the inner workings of the city's pension funds, but as the fourth-largest pension fund in the United States with some $269 billion in assets under management, it's worth taking note when something genuinely egregious is afoot. Such is the case today with the recent decision by the Police Pension Fund to withdraw from something called the Common Investment Meeting (CIM).

To understand why this is a concerning development, it helps to step back and explain what the CIM is and how it has made things better for all city pensioners and, by extension, taxpayers. The Common Investment Meeting was introduced in 2015 and is just what it sounds like: a joint meeting where trustees from all five pensions funds—representing the police, firefighters, teachers and other city employees—gather as one to review pension-investment strategies and make decisions, in cooperation with their consultants and the professional investment staff at the Comptroller's Office, known as the Bureau of Asset Management (BAM). This now happens 11 times a year—efficiently, transparently and effectively.