A bill that would provide a pension boost to more than 60,000 school and government retirees passed the Pennsylvania House Tuesday by a comfortable margin, although opponents warned it would saddle taxpayers with a massive bill. ‘a billion dollars.

The 135-67 vote sent the measure to the Republican-majority state Senate as the current two-year legislative session draws to a close.

The proposal applies to municipal police officers and firefighters who have been retired for at least five years, as well as teachers and state employees who retired before July 2, 2001. A House financial analysis indicates that the raises for teachers and state employees would be between 15% and almost 25%, depending on the timing of retirement.

Supporters argued that public-sector retirees once enjoyed steady cost-of-living increases.

“They had to make do because we didn’t,” Majority Leader Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery, argued on the House floor. “Let’s give these people the money they need to support themselves since they’ve supported us for so long.”

But Republicans who voted “no” called it unaffordable and difficult to justify to voters who don’t have traditional defined-benefit pensions but will end up paying retiree raises. The financial analysis indicates the proposal would add $332 million to the unfunded liability of the State Employees’ Retirement System and $614 million for the Public School Employees’ Retirement System.

“It’s very expensive,” said Brad Roae, R-Crawford, noting that the state’s two public-sector pension plans already have billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities. “This is a local property tax increase and a legislative measure to increase the school property tax. »

Sen. Joe Pittman, Republican of Indiana, majority leader of the state Senate, said in an emailed statement after the House vote Tuesday that he sympathized with those who retired before 2001.

“Obviously we have to be careful about the fragile nature of our pension funds,” Pittman said. “The question for advocates remains how to pay for this without increasing the burden on property taxpayers throughout the Commonwealth. »