Pension Tsunami
Pension Tsunami is the name of a very popular blog that is tracking public employee pension issues in California and across the nation. As the stock market has tumbled and goverment budgets tighten, government employee pensions are becoming the latest flashpoint for limited government activists.
In my nightly (and sometimes overnight) review of local and state government issues on the web, I'm finding more and more chatter about the high cost of defined benefit programs. This chatter will only increase as cash strapped municipalities are forced to increase pension contributions to meet the demands of CalPERS to guarantee future benefits.
Not surprisingly, conservative anti-tax/limited government groups in Orange County are leading the way. The Orange County Register seems to be serving as their mouthpiece. Wednesday's Register editorial page had a rather pointed opinion piece on the State's inability to address pension reform. This piece was a follow up to a story they did on the top 20 employee CalPERS pensions in the State and a feature on double dipping by the retired City Manager of Anaheim. You can read the editorial by clicking here, the top 20 list can be accessed here and the double dipping story here.
Last fall, Orange County approved a ballot measure that requires a public vote before their county government can increase employee pensions.
The Los Angeles Times also was busy discussing pension reform as well. Los Angeles City Council members earn $178,000 per year. One of their Council members is very concerned about the future liabilities of the city's private pension system. This Council member is very familiar with their pension system since this former Police Chief is the city's highest pensioner at $265,000 per year. You can read that article here.
In my nightly (and sometimes overnight) review of local and state government issues on the web, I'm finding more and more chatter about the high cost of defined benefit programs. This chatter will only increase as cash strapped municipalities are forced to increase pension contributions to meet the demands of CalPERS to guarantee future benefits.
Not surprisingly, conservative anti-tax/limited government groups in Orange County are leading the way. The Orange County Register seems to be serving as their mouthpiece. Wednesday's Register editorial page had a rather pointed opinion piece on the State's inability to address pension reform. This piece was a follow up to a story they did on the top 20 employee CalPERS pensions in the State and a feature on double dipping by the retired City Manager of Anaheim. You can read the editorial by clicking here, the top 20 list can be accessed here and the double dipping story here.
Last fall, Orange County approved a ballot measure that requires a public vote before their county government can increase employee pensions.
The Los Angeles Times also was busy discussing pension reform as well. Los Angeles City Council members earn $178,000 per year. One of their Council members is very concerned about the future liabilities of the city's private pension system. This Council member is very familiar with their pension system since this former Police Chief is the city's highest pensioner at $265,000 per year. You can read that article here.
posted by City Manager @ 6:42 AM
1 Comments:
At May 22, 2009 8:35 AM ,
Yvette said...
You must realize public pay is now equal and at times surpasses private pay.
The benefits the public sector enjoys surpassed the private sector decades ago.
Public employees are allowed to form powerful union groups, to represent them, while they are part of a monopoly already.
The only people responsible for paying the public sector(hint: the private sector taxpayer) have seen massive loss of wealth, drastically reduced job security, vanishing pension plans(replaced with risky 401k program that was never designed for retirement), rising health care costs and a slew of other headwinds.
Meanwhile the taxpayer is held at gunpoint to pay increased taxes so the public sector can award themselves with more perks.
There is a storm brewing.
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