Posted on 07/21/2011 6:52:42 AM PDT by Zakeet
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — The retirees came from near and far, gathering in a muggy auditorium here to listen to an urgent pitch: give back a big chunk of your pension or risk losing it all.
This city of 19,000 is broke and headed for bankruptcy, partly because it has promised retired police and firefighters millions of dollars in pensions and benefits that it cannot begin to afford.
And so Robert G. Flanders Jr., a state-appointed receiver who is trying to right the city’s finances, found himself on the stage at Central Falls High School on Tuesday, asking retirees to help solve “a horrible dilemma” by giving up a significant part of what they had always assumed was untouchable income.
“No one blames any of you for this situation,” Mr. Flanders told the retirees, many of whom appeared well into their 70s and 80s. “We understand, believe me, that we are asking for great unanticipated sacrifices. But there is simply no money in the city to continue on the current path.”
[Snip]
But the initial response suggested it would be no easy sell. Why should they be punished for the city’s financial missteps over the years, some retirees asked? Why not keep raising taxes instead?
[Snip]
Like many other municipal workers around the country, public safety employees in Central Falls do not pay into Social Security and thus get no Social Security benefits after retirement, a point that several complained about at the meeting.
Although many of the retirees were elderly, some in the crowd were still in their 40s and 50s, people who were allowed to retire early under the city’s rules.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The young workers are staring at the 15 trillion dollar debt that they didn’t run up and are saying “I should pay this why?”
This is just what will happen when soc sec and/or mc reach the end that they are oh-so-close to.
Right the spending ship now or have half the US population up in arms about “their stolen money”.
Obama and others in your government are spending it.
How many volunteers do you think they will get? Can we say “Zero”.
Property taxes are nothing but government theft. If you own the property why should you have to pay the goverment just to live there, your are nothing but a serf.
Many civil servants do in fact fund their own pensions, but only partially.
For example, a worker might contribute 6% of his weekly check to the pension fund, and the city might contribute another 6%. These are forced contributions, and are based on how the fund was set up.
I'm not saying that every civil servant fund is set up that way, but many are.
A few facts re Central Falls that the NY Times did not mention:
“In February 2010, the entire faculty and administrative staff of Central Falls High School was fired after the teachers’ union refused to accept one of the “No Child Left Behind” options (work an additional 25 minutes/day) for restructuring failing schools.....
In May 2010, the teachers were rehired when they agreed to work the extra time required.”(Wikipedia)
The city is 60% Hispanic, 7% Black and 30% White;
In the 2008 election:
82% of the city voted for Obama; 87% for Patrick Kennedy to House of Rep; 88% for Reed US Senator.
From the picture it looks like about 95% of the attendees are White, it would appear that diversity is not practiced in the City hiring.
Payback is hell.
Because the state doesn't want a bunch of old people taxed out of their homes because their earning power has stopped.
Just be patient, you'll get old one day too.
The most fiscally sound and humane thing you could do now is offer them back their own jobs (even part-time) in return for reduced pensions. Lay-off some younger workers to make room for them if necessary.
One of the stupidest things I see here in Pennsylvania is well connected 20 somethings making change on the Turnpike for wages only slightly less than what I make as a 50ish professional with an advanced degree.
Those are jobs which should be done by seniors or part-time retirees at a fraction of the cost. It is no secret around here that something like 80% or more of the turnpike tolls collected go to pay their bloated wages and benefits and 20% or less to maintain the roads.
The well-connected kids should go back to school or learn a useful trade to enhance their earning potential while they have a chance.
I think in many municipalities being "medically retired" constitutes well over 50% of all police/fire retirees every year.
A lot of these same municipalities also spend 80%-90% of their yearly budget on personnel costs. My favorite example is Montgomery County, MD. If they spend 80% of their yearly budget now, how can they ever hope to pay their retirees down the road? And that "down the road" is just around the bend.
Yep, the place is FULL of illegals. It’s a dump.
Their kids should support them in their old age, not the government.
Public workers and their unions invest in the government security pension system.
Private sector workers invest in the stock market for future retirement.
Sad to say, there is no guarantee in either investment, and it is about time for public union workers to face the fact that their unions over-promised.
Ask the people of Prichard, Alabama whose pension fund ran dry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/business/23prichard.html
A very sad state of affairs, but the illusion of the government as constant provider has finally been shattered.
They didn’t pay any social security? Man, I’m going to the next meeting to sell these rubes gold making machines.
I am surprised that a town(this is not a CITY) of 19,000 would need a fulltime fire dept.
I live in a town of 13,000 and we get by just fine with a voulunteer fire dept.
They didn’t pay any social security? Man, I’m going to the next meeting to sell these rubes gold making machines.
Doesn't seem right to me.
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