Posted on 05/02/2019 2:06:37 PM PDT by george76
In a reminder of the extent and reality of California’s pension problem, the state’s six-figure pension club has more doubled since 2012.
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the number of retirees from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System who received pensions worth $100,000 or more rose from 14,760 in 2012 to 30,969 in 2018.
average pension for full-career state employees enrolled in the plan for non-public safety workers was $63,057. For full-career state retirees enrolled in the plan for safety members, the average pension in 2018 was $84,197.
For those working for local government employers, the average pension for regular employees was $74,599 in 2018, while the average pension for public safety retirees was $108,320.
The trend is also bad for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which serves educators and has a deep impact on school districts throughout the state.
The number of CalSTRS retirees who received pensions worth $100,000 or more grew from 6,033 in 2011 to 15,559 in 2018.
“The average pension for full-career CalSTRS retirees hit an all-time high of $73,920 last year — an increase of over $10,000 from 2011,”
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The excesses of public sector pensions are but one of the many problems with the pension system. It would be another thing altogether if the public sector pensions of California were well-funded and sustainable.
But they’re not.
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the rising public sector pension burden is undermining the ability of school districts across the state to serve students.
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whereas in 2013 school districts paid $500 per pupil for pension costs, they’ll pay $1,600 per pupil by 2020.
(Excerpt) Read more at pe.com ...
Private schools- cut costs by half up front and cut 100% for pensions.
The government class has been looting CA for decades. Something will eventually give. It eventually caves in.
That’s way more than what my pension will be and I’m private sector.
Now, tell me why they rate so much free money. Why didn’t they save for retirement, instead of expecting government to provide? Losers!
Also places like Fort Worth.
So, what’s new? California is the shi! house of America and is so damn communists controlled that in effect is no longer part of the Union. And I live in this place and cannot get out.
Did they all retire at 50?
It’s like this in Arizona too. In our fire district, 51 cents of every dollar goes to pensions.
I will probably work until I’m in my 70’s (assuming anyone will keep me around when I’m that old), because I am helping to pay the pensions of these beauracrat leeches.
Obviouisly the solution is... pour millions more into a high-speed train to nowhere!
Because that was promised to them when they took the job. It’s part of the “compensation.” Once a government worker, now a protected class, gets a pension, or paid time off, it cannot be taken away. You can change it for new hires, but forget about doing anything for existing workers. I know this because I tried to change a paid time off policy in my County that was (and still is) outrageous. I was threatened with class action lawsuits. REMEMBER, judges and lawyers who work for government will always legally challenge. The State of AZ tried to deal with this nightmare by changing how much elected officials have to contribute (the horrors). It was passed. Five years later a court decided that it was illegal and every government entity and to pay ELECTED OFFICIALS back with interest. Yes, elected officials get a pension too.
California’s pension system is constructed in law and last time this came up someone explained that the employee generally puts up about 30% of their contribution and the state puts up the other 70% of the contribution. And it is all part of the compensation package.
The problem in California is the Legislature has found ways to borrow against the pension fund without calling it borrowing (which would be illegal) so the net result is the fund is grossly underfunded against its future obligations.
The state also seems to have no plan to repay the loans they’ve taken and instead just count them on the books as if the IOUs were cash assets...which a state can get away with since they’re exempt from the laws that make it illegal for anyone else to cook the books like that.
The same practice toppled Detroit when they were counting defaulted taxes as cash assets against bonds they were buying.
In short it’s just a question of when California will go bankrupt, not ‘if’.
Then to add salt to the wound, the courts will step in and require the state to pay these pensions even though there is no tax base to do so. The rich will flee and the middle class and poor will be left holding the bag on pensions that are wildly over-generous, were known to be excessive at the time they were given and for which the politicians did not plan or reserve over the employees’ work expectancy. Its a true crime blessed by all branches of state government. Its obscene.
At least well before 65. Many left the state for places like Nevada where their California-provided pension isn't taxed at the state level. I'm sure California was hoping for all of those highly paid pensioners to pay California state taxes on those pensions. Idiot bureaucrats.
Welp, let’s just sit back and watch...
“The problem in California is the Legislature has found ways to borrow against the pension fund “
Please explain.
That figures... More to the pigs at the trough!
Liberal solution: flood the state with illegal workers and have them cover the pensions with their taxes.
Wait! This presumes that they will be working and adding to the system instead of taking and on the welfare system.
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