Posted on 02/03/2011 3:57:05 PM PST by SmithL
The Legislature should consider cutting state workers' pay, according to a new, grim review of what Gov. Jerry Brown's budget plan means for California's civil servants.
The Legislative Analyst's Office notes that Brown says departments won't make about one-third of the cuts required in the 2010-11 general fund budget. Furthermore, the LAO says, Brown's budget plan for 2011-12 contains several suspect assumptions about employee cost savings.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.sacbee.com ...
That reduces the pension expenditure in addition to Salary and Medical.
Poor Jerry Brown, He has bad choices and even worse choices.
Someone should tell him to increase taxes on the rich to 100%. We all know that would work right? As long as we increase ‘demand’ :)
I have cousin who lived in CA more than 30 years. She and her husband sold their house and moved out of CA last year. The ship is almost under-water.
You know those layoffs will only be for the nonunion workers. And I believe that they calculate their pensions based on the employees three highest earning years average.
The costs of future public employee pensions have to be slashed first, by converting defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans for all state employees under 50-55 years of age, except for operational (not desk job) law enforcement & fire personnel whose bodies get beaten to death during their normal jobs. Judges are also a special case, but there aren't many of those.
State officials will just be posturing for campaign contributions until they start actually implementing pension reform.
I don't know where the dividing lines are, but believe the categories for computing state employee pension benefits include (but aren't limited to):
1) the average of the most recent five years of salary,
2) the average of the most recent three years of salary,
3) highest pay in any one year of the most recent three years of employment, and
4) the highest in the most recent five years, etc.
Which branch of the state government a public employee works for is also important. Teachers are generally employees of local or county school districts (this includes junior colleges), as are non-teaching school employees - administrators, janitors, secretaries, teaching assistants, etc. Court employees are employed by the judicial branch, which is nominally an independent branch of government with its own budget which determines, within limits, what to pay them. The California legislature has a few of its own civil service employees, and the legislature most definitely is an independent branch of government from the executive branch.
Most public employees in California are teachers employed by local school districts. I suspect the total number of local government employees are who aren't employed by school districts (county road personnel, law enforcement & firefighters, etc.) is much, much greater than the number of state employees who work for the executive branch, and it is this last group we talking about.
“25% Across-the-board layoffs are the right answer.”
Better: Do 50% across-the-board. I doubt if anyone in CA would notice.
To Brown: Cut. Then cut again.
” I have cousin who lived in CA more than 30 years. She and her husband sold their house and moved out of CA last year. The ship is almost under-water. “
Your cousin waited too long. I lived there 30 years, and sold out in 2006 ;-)
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