Things are starting to heat up due to the mounting pressure on cities - and other government agencies - to fund their required services while confronted with ever-increasing payments for retiree debt.
This article points out the problems faced by cities in trying to manage their pension debt, focusing on the obstacles they face in negotiations. Obstacles, as in the cost of living increases (COLA), that do not allow cities to make the necessary adjustments in order to stabilize the impact on their budgets. Instead, they are faced with cutting services or turning to taxpayers for more money.
School personnel (not including teachers) are in CalPERS, which is a big part of school funding and why we see increasing efforts for additional parcel taxes in school districts.
The glib remark by Dave Low, president of the union that represents classified school employees, is typical. Rather than facing the need for reform, he blames taxpayers for insisting on more realistic rate of return projections. “This is a long-term process,” he said. “Pensions are one piece of compensation. When we go to the table, everything is on the table, health care, wages, step increases. They have a lot of control in compensation.”
I hope the State Supreme Court is paying attention.
This article is also posted on our Facebook page for your comments.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the...
Regards,
Jody
CSPP