Posted on 03/24/2017 12:11:54 PM PDT by Puppage
HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — All day Friday, the Connecticut State Appropriations Committee will be hearing testimony on bills that could have a significant impact on state workers salaries, benefits, and pensions. One of two news conferences Friday morning called these bills an attack on nurses, teachers and firefighters.
There’s a lot of rhetoric on both sides. Workers talking about cuts to benefits and pensions as an attack on the hard working middle class. Those in favor of cuts pointing out exorbitant numbers, like a police sergeant making hundreds of thousands of dollars, or a retired state worker still pulling in more than 300 thousand dollars.
Everybody knows that the State is facing a major fiscal crisis, but they have very different views on how to solve that crisis.
David Pickus, a union leader from SEIU 1199 said this is how some state workers characterize some of these bills.
Attempt to destroy unions. To take the problem with the budget and try to make that into something that is bigger than it actually is and try to say, well, if we fix the pension problem, that will solve all the problems, wehereas it doesn’t do any of that sort.”
State Senator Paul Formica (R-Waterford) said the goal is preserve jobs by making Connecticut an affordable place to live and work.
We don’t want layoffs. We want to preserve jobs. We want to make sure that young people can start work here for the state of Connecticut and enjoy a long career that includes benefits, but benefits that are more in line with the private sector and not just the same old same old that we’ve seen for 20-30 years.”
Another senator says that negotiations with unions have saved the state hundreds of millions of dollars in the past by changing something as small as co-pays for doctor visits and prescription drugs. Unions point out that there is money that can be saved through better planning that reduces overtime, and that better planning could have funded state pensions adequately in the past.
Friday’s meetings are one of the opening volleys in the process. They have until the end of June to put a two-year budget together. The thing is, the Republicans have a louder voice in the legislature than they have in many years, so this could be a much more contentious budget than we’ve seen in years.
Viva la revolución Bolshies!
CT will probably never go to a right-to-work state. Same with NY.
I assume CT state workers are like those here in nearby NJ, who demand upper-middle class salaries and benefits for “work” with little to no value in the private sector. Remember the endlessly-repeated mantra about government workers quitting in droves? Never happens...
Government workers (state, county, municipal) are the #1 driving force in the death of the northeast; never mind current salaries/benefits (which are ridiculously high, and haven’t been seen in the private sector for decades), the pensions for these workers will prevent any economic revival for the foreseeable future.
“To take the problem with the budget and try to make that into something that is bigger than it actually is”
YEAH, RIGHT! Public Employees. the most under-worked and overpaid morons in the land. Isn’t it funny how private sector unions have managed to strangle the businesses that employed them while the PE unions continue to be able to kick their “pay cans” down the road in the state legislatures year after year. But their end too, is coming. “Other People’s Money” is all used up.
That, plus your run of the mill “progressives” (commies) who create bureaucracies like toll roads to screw the populace. When they get sick of one kommisar they vote him/her out and promptly vote another one in! It’s amazing to watch.
“Government workers (state, county, municipal) are the #1 driving force in the death of the northeast; never mind current salaries/benefits (which are ridiculously high, and haven’t been seen in the private sector for decades), the pensions for these workers will prevent any economic revival for the foreseeable future.”
Why limit it to the Northeast. The fact of the matter is it’s a nationwide problem. Even in the big cities in “flyover country” have it in spades. And it’s spreading like a cancer across the entire country, if not most of the world. We will see more and more municipal and county bankruptcies as time goes on. Then it will be the states.
Recently a local Boston talk host got a hold of pension figures for various "public servants" in Massachusetts.One thing he came up with was that a bus driver...A BUS DRIVER...for the MBTA (Greater Boston's public transit system) retired a year of so with a pension of $97,000 a year.
A bus driver!
Here in NJ the tolls on the Garden State Parkway were supposed to be collected only long enough to pay for the road; 60+ years later they’re still here. Thankfully I rarely use the toll roads here; when I occasionally do I’m shocked at how high they are compared to the last time I paid them.
At this point crossing a bridge into neighboring NYC (a dozen miles to the east) costs more than $15; why would anyone go?
The death of the northeast is visible NOW, not at some future point. These areas are “sanctuaries” because Americans and their employers are currently fleeing to “flyover states” that are still solvent.
No doubt they will meet the same fate if they follow the same path, but they can watch what is happening in the NYC metro area and California and make different choices...
“SAVE MY FREE STUFF”
Take a wild guess to where most of that money goes!
Toll collectors and what’s left on road maintenance, I guess.
Now they’re floating this idea that the lottery can address the pension problem - when years ago they got people to accept the lottery as the way to pay for public education (for which us taxpayers now pay school taxes among the highest in the nation). NJ has reached a point where the government itself is such a big business that those not getting paid by it are ruthlessly squeezed to pay for it.
How many people want to buy a share of that IOU? It is killing the housing market here in NJ; you have to find a sucker to buy your house (and a share of that debt). In the meantime, current services cease and all revenue pays people who retired years ago...
Yeah, and when they retire they move down here to FL. Pay ‘em less and keep ‘em.
It is increasingly difficult for ANYONE to stay up here after retirement; the “property tax freeze” for seniors simply freezes them at a high level anyway. Few people can retire and still pay nearly $1K per month in property taxes - and on top of that, they have to pay a higher rate and get the difference refunded the following year. So, if you live 20 years after retirement, you have to come up with probably $2K+ per month (and await a refund of the difference the next year). With fixed incomes, it simply doesn’t work; on top of that, the government has a vested interest in downplaying inflation so SS payments really never keep up...
Pardon my previous snark. Anyone would flee the middle and NE states as fast as I could. I just wish folks would leave their bad political habits behind.
I don’t blame you at all; FRegards!
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.