Posted on 02/11/2007 5:43:58 PM PST by NormsRevenge
If you ever doubted that the pension benefits of San Diego municipal workers were excessive, consider these simple numbers:
A typical firefighter making $75,000 a year can retire at age 55 with a pension of $99,767 – or 133 percent of his highest-year salary. That's right, a worker earning $75,000 can retire with a pension just shy of a hundred grand, along with annual cost-of-living increases, for the rest of his life.
The same lavish deal is provided to nonpublic-safety employees, with the only difference being that the worker would have to stay on the job until the advanced age of 60.
DROP, the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, is the reason for this absurdity. Here is how it works:
When a worker reaches the official retirement age – 50 for police and fire employees, 55 for all others – he is allowed to stay on the job for up to five more years. During that time, he collects both his full paycheck and his regular pension. The retirement checks are paid into a DROP account, and the city's pension plan pays a guaranteed 8 percent compounded interest on it. After five years of this double-dipping, the DROP account is made available to the retiree, on top of his regular pension.
So, the typical firefighter making $75,000 can begin receiving annual DROP payments of $67,500 (90 percent of his highest-year salary) at age 50. By age 55, with compounded interest, his DROP account will be bulging with $403,343. If he leaves the DROP account in the pension plan, he is guaranteed 8 percent annual interest, or $32,267 a year. So, he retires at age 55 with regular pension payments of $67,500 a year, augmented by DROP earnings of $32,267, for a total pension of $99,767 a year – all on a highest-year salary of $75,000.
The City Council has eliminated the DROP program for workers hired after June 2005. Mayor Jerry Sanders wants to abolish it for all workers not already enrolled in it. That's a wonderful idea, because the benefit is costing San Diego taxpayers up to $400 million. There is, however, a huge catch. The City Council may not have the legal right to take back the DROP benefit from workers who qualify for it today.
City Attorney Mike Aguirre claims the DROP program is illegal and that the City Council can eliminate it for all employees whenever it wants. But Aguirre's track record when it comes to pension matters is appalling. He came up empty in his vain bid to persuade Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Barton to set aside $700 million in existing retirement benefits for city workers, including the DROP program.
Ann Smith, the lawyer for the Municipal Employees Association, the city's biggest union, asserts it would be “unlawful” for the City Council to take back the DROP program for workers hired before mid-2005. For those workers, Smith contends, the DROP program is a vested benefit protected by state law. Given that Smith's track record on the legality of pension benefits is far superior to Aguirre's, the City Council should tread warily.
We agree the DROP program should be eliminated for all workers – but only if the City Council determines through outside legal counsel that it has the legal right to do so.
Excessive pensions
A typical worker earning $75,000 can receive a pension of $99,767 or 133% of his highest-year salary.
Dang. Why work?
"When a worker reaches the official retirement age – 50 for police and fire employees, 55 for all others – he is allowed ..."
When it's a 'worker,' it's allowed to be 'he.' Firemen, however, must be 'fire employees.'
How do they keep this straight?
The left is fond of whining that CEO and other corporate officers are gross profiteers for making more than any more than a few times the renumeration of their employees. They even have formulas for determining "socially responsible" corporate practices. Where is the basis for the notion that civil servants, as in C-I-V-I-L S-E-R-V-A-N-T-S, should be better paid than anything comparable in the private sector. Or...maybe that's where the lefties gravitate to when they have to leave school...?
Sweet deal...I wish my Navy pension was comparable.
And they CHOOSE TO BE FISHERMAN. I have no problem with this pension plan, anyone qualified can CHOOSE TO BE A FIREMAN. They risk their lives for the citizenry. I do resent the quadruple dipping by the pols.
Down here in San Diego, second largest city in Calif. the Police are so under paid, over 100+ have switched to other cities in the Co.
those who scan the groceries at Ralphs, etc. makes as much or more than the police
Here in a large city the police are faced with not only every type of crime but they are also picked of by gangbangers and illegals.
Those corrupt pols have been voted out and most in jail.
The guy who ownes the Chargers and wants a new stadium is a conservative republican.
Equine feces. The lines for applications are so long it's ridiculous that we pay as much as we do. Nor are firemen selected by job qualification, affirmative action being what it is. Work tasks are being redefined so that women can do them too. Being a fireman has become a VERY cushy deal.
They risk their lives for the citizenry.
Not like they used to. Union "safety rules" have taken over to a remarkable degree, especially in CDF.
That won't last long. If being a cop is such a bad deal, why are there so many applicants? Check out the applications for firefighting positions some time.
S.D. is around 200 officers short
It was the story of how the government unions bankrupted New York City in the 70's.
I've lived in San Diego since 1978. It's becoming New York as I watch.
And, of course, coming to your city, soon...not to mention the entire US.
My husband was a commercial fisherman...I can attest to the dangerous part!
Who are in jail?
There are a lot of applicants but not a lot of qualified applicants. Do you want a guy that just kicked his heroin habid carrying a gun or responding to an emergency in your city? Cities are having a very hard time meeting hiring goals and it has become a very competitive business trying to lure quality people to a particular department.
And a fine example of conservative principles. Let's see if he is really a conservative or just a socialist waiting to line his pockets with substantial taxpayer subsidies. A conservative would build a stadium with private financing and shun "deals" with politicians. I'm not holding my breath.
Soooooo..., the one and only SEC is investigating securities fraud. San Diego is a financial train wreck. A great peek into the future for most municipalities.
My bet is that cities lose more people because of PC lawyer/activist-driven bureaucratic loops than because of pay.
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