I think we will manage with a fire chief making just $150K a year, no?
Posted on 03/23/2011 1:18:42 AM PDT by Scanian
Public employees are retiring at a quickening pace around the U.S., providing a mixed blessing for state and local governments seeking to save money.
The retirements mean employers can shelve some planned layoffs. And some of the departing workers, generally more senior and higher paid, are being replaced by lower-paid employees with less-generous retirement benefits, government officials say. But the loss of veterans threatens to erode the quality of public services that make communities attractive, they say.
The exodus of public employees is an unintended consequence of states' financial struggles. Some workers have been required to take unpaid furlough days, and many fear they'll lose benefits at the center of political battles.
In Wisconsin, where lawmakers voted in mid-March to end workers' collective bargaining for future employment contracts, 3,362 people have applied to retire this year, a 73% jump from last year. And 10,975 people since the beginning of the year have taken the first step toward retirement—flooding the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds with requests for estimates of their potential benefits. That's up 134%.
Among Wisconsin public employees filing for retirement are Mary and Len Herricks, both teachers in Oshkosh. They put in their papers in mid-March after lawmakers voted to rein in most public-employee collective-bargaining rights.
"Not only am I losing salary and benefits and facing a bigger work load, but now they are taking away my rights," says Ms. Herricks, a 56-year-old elementary school teacher. A teacher for 35 years who earns in the high 50s, Ms Herricks can now retire and collect nearly her former salary. "Retirement was supposed to be something happy. I'm so sad."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I think we will manage with a fire chief making just $150K a year, no?
what a racket, ppl retire and collect almost the same wages as they were working. This need to be changed to just enough to live on. You should not be able to retire and live in luxury
And the buggers have the gall to call it their “rights.”
put a cap to $40k per year. Noone should be able to collect more than this
And these are the same people who whine about the rich not paying their fair share.
Their unions are redistributionist but it looks like plenty of redistribution has gone on already. Sometimes from the poor to the very well-off.
The people we elected made these Deals with the Devil. We can un-elect and/or recall the turds. Get busy or get ready to move elsewhere.
What quality service would that be???? I have never seen it.
Ms Herricks can now retire and collect nearly her former salary. “Retirement was supposed to be something happy. I’m so sad.”
Cry me an effin’ river. Sucks to be you, Ms Herricks.
Ms Herricks can now retire and collect nearly her former salary. “Retirement was supposed to be something happy. I’m so sad.”
Could you explain yourself a little better Ms Herricks. Looks on the surface, you ought to be smiling all the way to the bank, so what am I missing?
They want the world and they want it now!
Their actions and words prove it.
Unions, or should I say union leaders, are more greedy than the employers the union leaders constantly harangue. The union leaders’ sole goal is to increase unions size so they can live higher on the hog while contributing zilch to their members or society.
Me neither.
I keep hearing rumors that it exists in some far-off county somewhere but I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing it.
“I never thought my career would end like this,” Mr. Herricks says. “This was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life.”
How so? I don’t get it. I sure isn’t “for the children”. So what?
Gimme, gimme, gimme.
That’s what people like Mr. Herricks are all about.
...IT sure isn’t...
doofus.
It might be enlightening to sit down with both of them and find out just what goes on in those heads.
I’ll be in Oshkosh this summer. Wonder if they are accepting appointments?
Here in Illinois they retire from one gub’mint job, and almost are immediately placed into another, thus gaining a 2nd pension.
Our tollbooths and forest preserves are loaded with cronies picking up a 2nd or 3rd pension.
Be sure to bring crying towels and T.S. cards.
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