Posted on 09/02/2011 8:46:16 AM PDT by Kaslin
Central Falls, Rhode Island set to file bankruptcy exit plan delayed by Irene
Central Falls filed for bankruptcy Aug. 1, and receiver Robert Flanders said then that he wanted to submit an exit plan to U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Frank Bailey within 30 days. But Tropical Storm Irene forced Flanders to push back the self-imposed deadline.
“Central Falls lost power in the middle of the storm and just recovered it yesterday, and that’s hampered our access to servers and the Internet that we need to formulate the plan,” Flanders said during a taping of Rhode Island Public Radio’s weekly Political Roundtable segment.
“So there’s going to be a slight delay in us getting that before the bankruptcy judge, but our plan still is to get that in as soon as possible – hopefully next week or shortly thereafter – and we’re well along on a five-year plan of recovery,” he said.
Flanders’ plan is likely to meet with heavy opposition from lawyers representing the city’s retirees and unionized workers. They have until Sept. 16 to file a first round of objections. Flanders has said he wants the city to be out of bankruptcy by February.
Flanders has already ordered reductions of up to 50% in Central Falls retirees’ pensions and suggested he will need to slash the police and fire budgets by 40%. Attorney General Peter Kilmartin said last month he’s concerned about the impact that could have on public safety.
No Impact to Public Safety
Assuming the city budget is now balanced, the plan seems reasonable to me and taxpayers have rightfully been shielded.
There should be no impact to public safety. Police and fire fighters should be told (not asked) to accept salary cuts of 40%. Not a single police of firefighter need be fired. Thus, the concerns of Attorney General Peter Kilmartin over public safety impacts are ridiculous.
Any officer, firefighter, or teacher who can find a better job at more money in the private sector would be free to do so. I suspect few would. To prohibit future fights, the unions should be dissolved and collective bargaining ended.
The Way Forward
This is the way forward and unions better get used to it. If public unions do not agree to reasonable haircuts now, they can take larger haircuts in bankruptcy court.
All it takes is for one major city to see the light and there will be a cascade of bankruptcies by cities to get out of onerous public union contracts.
Brain dead public unions think lawsuits will solve a problem resulting from untenable wages and benefits that cannot be paid.
Instead of accepting the obvious New Jersey Governor Christie Sued by Unions Over Pension, Health Benefits
New Jersey public employee unions, seeking to block a law reducing pension and health benefits, sued Governor Chris Christie and other state officials.
More than 20 unions and individuals representing teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees claim the law enacted June 28 violates the U.S. and state constitutions by forcing them to pay more for pensions and health insurance. In a complaint in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, they asked a judge yesterday to block enforcement of the law and order the state to fully fund the pension systems.
“Another lawsuit won’t change the fact that the public employee pension system was on a collision course with collapse without the governor’s and the Legislature’s bipartisan intervention,” a Christie spokesman, Michael Drewniak, said in a statement.
‘Oblivious’ Union
“The union leadership is unaccountably oblivious to that,” he said. “So, fine, file another lawsuit, keep your heads in the sand and ignore the problem. We will defend as necessary our pledge to fix the public employee pension system for all employees, former, present and future.”
The law deprives workers of their due process rights by suspending pension adjustments, increasing employees’ contributions, underfunding pensions and delegating to pension committees an “unrestrained authority to reduce pension and change eligibility requirements,” according to a copy of the complaint on the education group’s website.
The sense of entitlement of these overpaid, underworked, public union ingrates is stunning. The Governor needs to seek legislation that will end all collective bargaining rights of public unions as soon as possible.
Funny headline there with two unrelated events; although, given how unions react to news events, it wouldn’t be that strange if the Dem-dominated hellhole of Central Falls, Rhode Island filed for bankruptcy and the unions responded by suing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Real free market reforms like paying for individual performance excellence would also increase efficiency and create value!
Is the union members of Central Falls SUING Chris Christie??
If So Why??
to quote my departed grandmother, public unions in this country have One Foot in the Grave and the Other on a Banana Peel
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.