NEW YORK, NY September 03, 2009 —The New York state comptroller says Albany, local governments, and taxpayers will need to pay far more into the state's pension system because of big losses. Karen DeWitt reports.

REPORTER: State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli says the state and local government's contributions to the state pension system will rise steeply beginning in 2011 and will approach the record-high levels of 2005 and 2006. The reason is the drop in the stock market that has led to the pension fund, one of the nation's largest, to decline by over 26 percent.

DiNapoli says he's proposed allowing local government to amortise the costs of the increased pension payments over a number of years to help them make ends meet in the short run. In the long term the comptroller says an agreement reached between Governor Paterson and state worker unions to enact a new pension tier for new employers with lowered benefits may mitigate costs. In Albany, Karen DeWitt.