Posted on 12/15/2011 6:38:56 AM PST by MichCapCon
Kalamazoo Township pays 100 percent of the health care costs of its police department and also has a retirement plan that is more than twice as lucrative as the average in the private sector.
The township also recently approved a resolution to create a new tax to help pay for those benefits.
Kalamazoo Township contributed an amount equivalent to 18 and 18.5 percent of an employees salary into a defined-contribution system for its police officers in 2009 and the first half of 2010. The township then switched to a defined-benefit pension plan and now contributes 15 percent.
The private sector pays on average 4 to 7 percent of an employees salary to retirement plans, according to a Mackinac Center 2010 study. The 37 police department employees averaged $68,368 in salary in 2010. There were seven other employees who worked 1,110 hours or less.
(Excerpt) Read more at michigancapitolconfidential.com ...
Politicians are always generous with other people’s money.
And the Kalamazoo population has dropped about 7% in the past 20 years. The median household income is $31,189. 24.3% of the population are below the poverty line. Are city governments that stupid to think higher taxes and higher spending help an economy?
no, they think the citizens are stupid enough to not notice
With a median income of 31K and 24% below the poverty line, I am guessing that this is not a town full of rocket scientists (if you catch my drift)
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