Post by robeiae on Feb 13, 2018 9:51:46 GMT -5
www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article199693069.html
I remember those 2012 bankruptcy filings. I thought those were supposed to be sounding alarm bells back then. And yet, it's six years later and California cities are still in deep shit, mostly--imo--because of politicians who used pension promises to secure power.
Here's more on the stupidity: www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-pension-crisis-davis-deal/
It's so stupid, and yet what can be done? Promises were made that people relied on to make life decisions; those can't be undone. But someone has to foot the bill when it comes due, and that's gonna be the citizenry as a whole, who were sold a phony bill of goods by the people running the show.
Is there a lesson here?
After years of denial, California’s cities are finally waking up to their pension nightmare. Unfortunately, now the crisis is so dire that there are no painless choices left. To keep up with ballooning pension payments, cities soon will have to raise taxes or cut services, or both.
Loudly sounding the alarm, the League of California Cities reported this month that most members expect pension costs to jump by at least 50 percent by 2024-25. Pension payments – now about 11 percent of general fund budgets on average – will eat up about 16 percent by then. That doesn’t include increases in retiree health care costs and other benefits. In extreme cases, the pension burden could lead to more bankruptcy filings like Stockton’s and San Bernardino’s in 2012.
Loudly sounding the alarm, the League of California Cities reported this month that most members expect pension costs to jump by at least 50 percent by 2024-25. Pension payments – now about 11 percent of general fund budgets on average – will eat up about 16 percent by then. That doesn’t include increases in retiree health care costs and other benefits. In extreme cases, the pension burden could lead to more bankruptcy filings like Stockton’s and San Bernardino’s in 2012.
Here's more on the stupidity: www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-pension-crisis-davis-deal/
More than 200,000 civil servants became eligible to retire at 55 — and in many cases collect more than half their highest salary for life. California Highway Patrol officers could retire at 50 and receive as much as 90% of their peak pay for as long as they lived.
Proponents sold the measure in 1999 with the promise that it would impose no new costs on California taxpayers. The state employees’ pension fund, they said, would grow fast enough to pay the bill in full.
They were off — by billions of dollars — and taxpayers will bear the consequences for decades to come.
[snip]
Today, the difference between what all California government agencies have set aside for pensions and what they will eventually owe amounts to $241 billion, according to the state controller.
Proponents sold the measure in 1999 with the promise that it would impose no new costs on California taxpayers. The state employees’ pension fund, they said, would grow fast enough to pay the bill in full.
They were off — by billions of dollars — and taxpayers will bear the consequences for decades to come.
[snip]
Today, the difference between what all California government agencies have set aside for pensions and what they will eventually owe amounts to $241 billion, according to the state controller.
Is there a lesson here?
