M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) recently announced that it has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 75 cents per share on its common stock. 

The dividend will be payable on Dec. 29 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 1.

The dividend amount is the same that the Buffalo–based banking company has paid in each quarter of 2017, after it boosted the dividend by 5 cents a share, or 7 percent, from the previous 70 cents a share that M&T had paid quarterly since September 2007.

M&T Bank in mid-October reported that its net income in this year’s third quarter totaled 

$356 million, up 2 percent from the $350 million it generated in the third quarter of 2016.

The banking company operates branches in New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. 

M&T Bank ranks number one in deposit market share in the 16-county Central New York area.

SYRACUSE — U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) on Nov. 22 told members of Teamsters Local 317 that he’s working to get a bill approved that would restore cuts made to their pension plans. 

Syracuse–area Teamsters, who have already suffered pension-benefits cuts, are at “significant risk” of losing even more of what they earned and saved over a lifetime of work, according to Schumer’s office.

The Democrat spoke to Teamsters members at the local headquarters at 566 Spencer St. in Syracuse. 

“This issue does not just affect Central New York. It affects all of New York state, Downstate, Upstate, all the Teamsters in all parts of the state,” said Schumer.

In response, he and his Democratic colleagues in the U.S. Senate, are pushing new legislation that would ensure local Syracuse–area Teamsters (and thousands of other Upstate Teamsters) can avoid cuts in the future — and perhaps reverse past cuts. 

Schumer contended that this “must-pass legislation is necessary” to put Syracuse workers’ hard-earned pension plans back “on solid footing.”

Background

After the 2008 financial crisis, the Great Recession, and “tectonic” shifts in the economy, many pension plans, including the New York State Teamster Conference Pension and Retirement Fund, absorbed “major” financial losses and now they’re “in danger of not meeting their full obligations to retirees,” Schumer’s office said. 

That pension and retirement fund has more than 34,000 participants, according to Schumer’s office.

Trustees and members of the Teamster Fund earlier this year faced a “tough choice” as the plan was 46 percent funded with $1.46 billion in assets and $3.14 billion in liabilities. Ultimately, the Teamsters went through a process to keep the plan solvent in the short term that included a 30 percent cut to benefits. 

Schumer said the New York State Teamster Conference Pension and Retirement Fund is “vital” to more than 34,000 members, including 16,000 retirees and some 18,000 active members. Thousands of Syracuse–area Teamsters from Local 317 are part of this fund, including 7,000 retirees and 5,000 active members. 

If pension plans are allowed to fail, not only will employers no longer be able to pay promised benefits, but taxpayers would be at risk of having to pay billions when the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), the government-sponsored insurance company for multiemployer pensions, cannot afford to cover losses and becomes insolvent.

“The PBGC is supposed to be on the hook … that’s a federal-government agency that promised to back up the pensions should they run into trouble, but the PBGC doesn’t have all the funding it needs and that’s why people here have suffered a cut in their pensions, unfairly and through no fault of their own,” Schumer said to those gathered at the Teamsters Local 317 headquarters on Spencer Street.

Butch Lewis Act

Schumer wants Congress to “immediately” pass the Butch Lewis Act. The bill, introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D–Ohio), would work to “ensure that no American loses the pension benefits that they deserve.” 

“Butch Lewis was a Teamster activist and he died fighting to … rectify this injustice,” Schumer said in his remarks.

For the members of the New York State Teamster Conference Pension and Retirement Fund, this bill would help the plan avoid cuts in the future and even help reverse past cuts. 

Without this bill’s protections, further future cuts “are still possible,” Schumer contends. 

“If this bill passes, then there will be no more cuts and there’s a very good chance some of the previous cuts can be restored, depending on the individual pension plan,” Schumer told the gathering. 

Creating the PRA

The “Butch Lewis Act” would create a new office within the U.S. Treasury Department, which would be called the Pension Rehabilitation Administration (PRA), Schumer explained. 

The PRA would allow pension plans to borrow the money they need to “remain solvent and continue providing retirement security for retirees and workers for decades to come.” 

The money for the loans and the cost of running the PRA would come from the sale of Treasury-issued bonds to financial institutions. The PRA would sell Treasury-issued bonds in the open market to large investors such as banks. The PRA would then lend the money from the sale of the bonds to the financially troubled pension plans, according to Schumer.

To ensure that the pension plans can afford to repay the loans, the PRA would lend them money for 30 years at low-interest rates — about 3 percent. “The 30-year loans would buy time for the pension plans, so they can focus on investing for the long-term health of the plan, while the loans pay benefits owed to current retirees,” according to Schumer’s office.

 In addition to prohibiting the borrowed funds from being used to make “risky investments,” the bill also requires plans that borrow money to submit reports to the PRA every three years to demonstrate that the plans are on track to getting back on “solid footing.” 

Pension plans may borrow as much money as they need, as long as they can demonstrate the ability to repay the loan, the legislation stipulates.

The interest will be comparable to that of a 30-year Treasury bond. The rate may be slightly higher in order to cover operating costs for the PRA. During the first 29 years of the 30-year loans, the pension plans will pay only fixed interest rates on the money they’ve borrowed. 

In the last year, the pension plans will pay interest on the loans and repay all the money they borrowed — since the money comes from the sale of Treasury-issued bonds to financial institutions, according to Schumer’s office. 

These PRA bonds will be fully backed by the Treasury. Schumer contends the PRA “will not have trouble raising the money because investors want long-term bonds that carry little risk.”           

AAA is predicting drivers won’t find “significant” holiday savings at the gas pump this December.

Even though AAA expects gas prices to decline between now and the end of the year, it also expects drivers will pay the highest November and December gas prices since 2014.

That’s according to a report the organization released Nov. 27.

The national gas-price average was $2.51 as of Nov. 27, or 38 cents more than this time in 2016, AAA said.

“Despite a forecasted 5 to 20 cents decrease in coming weeks, motorists will see higher than expected December gas prices — especially compared to year-end prices from 2015 and 2016,” Elizabeth Carey, director of public relations, AAA of Western and Central New York, said in the release. “Driving factors for cheaper gas prices this winter include colder temperatures, the threat of inclement weather and online shopping.”

Gas prices in 2017 have “strayed from typical trends,” AAA said. 

Historically, year-end gas prices “tend to be relatively cheap” due to a drop-off in fall gasoline demand around Labor Day and the move to “cheaper to produce” winter-blend gasoline in mid-September. This year, the typical factors that drive gas prices down in winter were “outweighed” by the adverse impact of two major hurricanes, “steady” consumer demand, and “continued growth” in gasoline exports.

Describing itself as upstate New York’s “largest” member-services organization, AAA provides nearly 860,000 members with travel, insurance, financial, and automotive related services, according to its news release.

2018 look ahead

Drivers can expect gas prices to continue to trend lower in the first few months of 2018, with potential to see the national gas-price average in the $2.25 to $2.35 range by February, AAA said. 

OPEC’s meeting that was scheduled for Nov. 30, and any decisions to further cut or keep production rates stable, will “influence” longer-term forecasts for 2018. OPEC is short for the Vienna, Austria–based Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.