New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg expects to announce today that his administration will seek to set aside $2 billion over the next two years to create a trust fund to pay health benefits for retired city employees. Taking the initiative to create the trust fund has the added political benefit to the mayor of putting municipal labor unions on the defensive, since it publicly sets a price tag on the high cost of maintaining the relatively generous health care benefits accorded to retired municipal workers.
See "Mayor Plans a Trust Fund for Retirees", Mike McIntyre, The New York Times, January 30, 2006