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ALBANY, N.Y. -- As his office continues to negotiate with the public worker unions to draw out millions of dollars in concessions, Governor Andrew Cuomo plans to unveil a new, less generous pension tier designed to save $93 billion over 30 years. Which he says is needed in order to keep the pension system solvent and affordable to taxpayers.

"We can't afford the public pension system we have in this state. Period. We just can't afford it. The increase in public pensions has been astronomical. What is driving the taxes that we were just talking about, one of the things is the public pension system. It is unaffordable for local governments. It is unaffordable for the state government," Cuomo said.

A Cuomo source confirmed Monday that the proposed Tier VI plan would raise the retirement age to 65 and restrict the often criticized practice of using overtime to pad pensions. State workers would also have to work an extra two years before they qualified for their pension. Workers would also have to pay double what they pay now into the system. The new tier would have to be approved by the Legislature.

"If we can make the pensions not less desirable, but more consistent with private industry, which is the only fair way to do, I think that makes a lot of sense. We did it with Tier V and I'd be very happy to look at Tier VI. It's probably a movement in the right direction," said State Senator John DeFrancisco.

"I'd like to see what's being proposed before we do it," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said.

The proposal comes more than a year after the state adopted the Tier V pension level, which saves $35 billion over a generation. It also comes as the governor and public worker unions are engaged in negotiating a new contract. Word that Cuomo would soon introduce the new tier was swiftly rebuked by the Civil Service Employees Association and the Public Employees Federation.

In statement, CSEA President Danny Donohue said Cuomo doesn't care about working people and that, "The governor is engaging in political grandstanding to impress his millionaire friends at the expense of working people and the services they provide to the people of New York."

Although the tier proposal is separate from the contract negotiations, a spokesman for CSEA told us today would likely complicate those talks, making a deal all the more elusive.