Public Employee Pensions

[finknottle]

Didnt the allure of govt jobs used to be good benefits and a pension BUT lower pay than the private sector? That was the tradeoff.........now they get higher pay, great benefits, more time off and JUICED up pensions.....

 

But they still have to leave their drive and ambition at the door, so it is not all roses. Nobody is going to look back on a 30 year career of staff meetings, quality improvement seminars, and persum writing at the Dept of Education and say "Damn! For a while in my life I was a real player, a mover and a shaker!"

[ExiledInIllinois]

Illinois is !@#$ed up constitutionally. It is damn if you do, damn if you don't. I still voted to hold a constitutional convention... It got shot down... Anyway, that would have been a cluster!@#$ too (get a loud of that price tag)!

 

[ExiledInIllinois]

Didnt the allure of govt jobs used to be good benefits and a pension BUT lower pay than the private sector? That was the tradeoff.........now they get higher pay, great benefits, more time off and JUICED up pensions.....

 

When did that happen... I must have missed the memo.

 

Nobody wanted my job (they probably still don't... ) 20 years ago... Yet many all say: "How did you get that job?"

 

Everything always comes at a price. Like mama always said... The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence.

[DC Tom]

Nobody wanted my job (they probably still don't... ) 20 years ago... Yet many all say: "How did you get that job?"

 

You sure they mean "How'd you get that cushy, well-paying job?" and not "How'd a brain-dead mook like you get ANY job?"

 

[Nanker]

Didnt the allure of govt jobs used to be good benefits and a pension BUT lower pay than the private sector? That was the tradeoff.........now they get higher pay, great benefits, more time off and JUICED up pensions.....

 

The Bad Guy Steps Up To The Plate, in NJ.

These bills must just mark the beginning, not the end, of our conversation and actions on pension and benefit reform. Because make no mistake about it, pensions and benefits are the major driver of our spending increases at all levels of government—state, county, municipal and school board. Also, don’t believe our citizens don’t know it and demand, finally, from their government real action and meaningful reform. The special interests have already begun to scream their favorite word, which, coincidentally, is my nine year old son’s favorite word when we are making him do something he knows is right but does not want to do—“unfair.”

 

Let’s tell our citizens the truth—today—right now—about what failing to do strong reforms costs them.

One state retiree, 49 years old, paid, over the course of his entire career, a total of $124,000 towards his retirement pension and health benefits. What will we pay him? $3.3 million in pension payments over his life and nearly $500,000 for health care benefits -- a total of $3.8m on a $120,000 investment. Is that fair?

 

A retired teacher paid $62,000 towards her pension and nothing, yes nothing, for full family medical, dental and vision coverage over her entire career. What will we pay her? $1.4 million in pension benefits and another $215,000 in health care benefit premiums over her lifetime. Is it “fair” for all of us and our children to have to pay for this excess?

 

The total unfunded pension and medical benefit costs are $90 billion. We would have to pay $7 billion per year to make them current. We don’t have that money—you know it and I know it. What has been done to our citizens by offering a pension system we cannot afford and health benefits that are 41% more expensive than the average fortune 500 company’s costs is the truly unfair part of this equation.

 

The only principled path in light of these mountainous challenges is this—take these reform bills, make them even stronger and put them on my desk before I return here on March sixteenth for my budget address. And on this you have my pledge—unlike in the past, when you stood up and did what was right, this governor will not pull the rug out from underneath you—I will sign strong reform bills.

[ExiledInIllinois]

You sure they mean "How'd you get that cushy, well-paying job?" and not "How'd a brain-dead mook like you get ANY job?"

 

 

I graduated class of 1990 from UB... Ask them too. Trust me Tom, there a lot more scarier people out there than me!

 

(Notwithstanding sentence structure...)

 

[manateefan]

Article 1

 

Article 2

 

But let's cut teachers and cops. After much research, it turns out that Pensions are pretty much guaranteed by Illinois' State Constitution. Good luck paying for that, liberals.

Most government employees do not get what was reported in that article. There is only a select few who get that. I am a government employee and if I could retire today (which I can't) I will only get $1,000 a month. Not everyone who worke in government makes great wages and great pensions. So please stop criticizing all of us.

[Chef Jim]

Most government employees do not get what was reported in that article. There is only a select few who get that. I am a government employee and if I could retire today (which I can't) I will only get $1,000 a month. Not everyone who worke in government makes great wages and great pensions. So please stop criticizing all of us.

 

$1,000 per month means nothing. How long have you worked there and how old are you?

[Alaska Darin]

Most government employees do not get what was reported in that article. There is only a select few who get that. I am a government employee and if I could retire today (which I can't) I will only get $1,000 a month. Not everyone who worke in government makes great wages and great pensions. So please stop criticizing all of us.

You should be more defensive and take stuff more personally.

[manateefan]

$1,000 per month means nothing. How long have you worked there and how old are you?

 

14 years working and 52 years old.

[Alaska Darin]

14 years working and 52 years old.

What would your pension be at 30 years of service?

[manateefan]

What would your pension be at 30 years of service?

 

Won't make 30 years because I planned on getting out at 62 (24 years). I don't want to work untiI am 67. Might be near 1400 but still can't live on that. No sure because I haven't check because I am 9 years away.

[Chef Jim]

14 years working and 52 years old.

 

And when I'm 52 and have been at my job for 14 years my retirement income is zippo. Sounds like you've got a sweet deal to me.

[IDBillzFan]

And when I'm 52 and have been at my job for 14 years my retirement income is zippo.

In all fairness, that's a quality lighter right there.

[Alaska Darin]

Won't make 30 years because I planned on getting out at 62 (24 years). I don't want to work untiI am 67. Might be near 1400 but still can't live on that. No sure because I haven't check because I am 9 years away.

So you'd get $1000 a month with 14 years of service but if you do another 10 you only get an additional $400?

[finknottle]

Won't make 30 years because I planned on getting out at 62 (24 years). I don't want to work untiI am 67. Might be near 1400 but still can't live on that. No sure because I haven't check because I am 9 years away.

 

Are you federal or local? If federal, you are under FERS. Beyond the fact that another 10 years gets you much more than 400 dollars, you will also get TSP and SS. Your retirement is the three combined, with the pension the smallest part.

 

That's some sweet action.

[Chef Jim]

In all fairness, that's a quality lighter right there.

 

Nothing like the smell of lighter fluid as the thing leaked in your jean's pocket.

[Fan in San Diego]

Seems like some well places accidents could thin the herd at the feeding trough.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Are you federal or local? If federal, you are under FERS. Beyond the fact that another 10 years gets you much more than 400 dollars, you will also get TSP and SS. Your retirement is the three combined, with the pension the smallest part.

 

That's some sweet action.

 

I wonder what their grade scale or wage grade (hourly) is??

 

Even that... If they retire at the full age... Pension is about 70% of pay under FERS... I think the older ones in CSRS (not kicking into SS), pension is closer to 80%. That doesn't mean people in CSRS can't collect SS... They may have enough credits to collect (outside employment).

 

FERS can get more agency matching in their TSP though... I know with me I put over 15% away... The first 4% they match dollar for dollar and the next 1% they match 50%... Then nothing after 5%.

[Keukasmallies]

Somewhere in this topic I was reminded that I've always felt public employees should have the right to strike. Seems to me that nothing would resolve protracted negotiations like a teachers strike, for example. All of a sudden, parties not usually privy to the process become real involved real fast. That being the case, it's just possible some of these back room deals, i.e., lulu retirement packages, might not exist.

 

But, that's just me. Me who is on NYS Tier 1 retirement after having been in public education for thirty-six years. I questioned the package at the time, but it came to pass, so....