LBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that with an $8 billion pension bill squeezing the city's finances, state legislators should back the governor and create a new lower pension tier for future municipal and state workers.

The city's pension costs have risen 500 percent from $1.5 billion in 2002 when Bloomberg took office and now comprise 12 percent of the budget, equivalent to combined operations of the police, fire and sanitation departments, he told a joint legislative budget committee. The new pension tier would save the city $30 billion over 30 years without costing current workers anything, he said.

"It would raise the retirement age, exclude employee overtime from pension calculations, bring progressivity into employee pension contributions and institute shared risks and rewards that would reflect the fluctuations in the market," Bloomberg said. "It would also offer new employees the choice of a defined contribution option, with a flexibility and portability that many may find a better, fairer choice for them."