RoAnn Destito elected president of NY Retired Public Employees Association

Former New York State Assemblymember RoAnn Destito was elected president of the New York Retired Public Employees Association during the organization's annual meeting in Albany last month. Destito was a member of the Assembly from 1993 to 2011, representing a district in the Mohawk Valley, in the center of New York, that included Utica and Rome.

The RPEA, founded in 1969, lobbies legislators and advocates for nearly 500,000 New York public service retirees, as well as their spouses and beneficiaries. “We need to really focus on getting some increase and some relief for these older people,” Destito said in an interview last week, describing her priorities as the RPEA's leader. "We need to make sure that people can afford their groceries, they can afford their health insurance and they can live modestly in their homes." 

In particular, Destito hopes to push for an increase in the cost of living adjustment for New York State retiree pensions, especially for older retirees who have told her they are struggling. She recounted a conversation that she had with a civil servant who retired 29 years ago who was finding it harder to live on his pension benefits.  

"He made the statement, 'maybe we live too long,' which shouldn't be what people think about,” Destito said.  

She stepped down from the Assembly in the middle of her final term to become commissioner of the New York State Office of General Services, an office she served in for a decade. After resigning from that position in 2021, she was asked to run for the RPEA’s top position by the group’s former president Diana Hinchcliff, Destito said.  

She was also encouraged to get involved in the RPEA by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who worked with Destito when they were both state assemblymembers, the new RPEA president said.  

"These are challenging times for retirees trying to get by on fixed incomes,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “RoAnn Destito is the perfect person to lead RPEA right now. Her depth of experience as an Assemblymember and commissioner of a major state agency, her tenacity to fight for those she represents, and her compassion will vastly enhance the organization and its efforts to draw attention to critical issues that New York's retirees care about.” 

Marianne Pizzitola, president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees said that she’s looking forward to working with Destito on cost of living issues. 

“Between the cost of living and healthcare costs ... we’re putting seniors into a major affordability crisis,” she said.  

Destito said that she supports the city's municipal retirees in their push to maintain their Medicare benefits. She added that she plans to work closely with public employee unions.  

"We want to be partners and collaborators with the public employee unions and make sure that we're all on the same page,” she said.