I am one of these. I paid 8% of my income into my pension. It is limited to the municipality where I worked and still live. Over the years we gave up pay raises and other increases to maintain what we had. For example, local businesses were handing out 8-10% raises one year and we got 3%-5. This was in the 90’s.
However, that being said, the problem is NOT with local areas that have their pensions. Where the problem is severe is state level systems of which many local governmental employees are also included. In Michigan there is MERS which is municipal employees retirement system.
Many of these systems pay out annual cost of living raises such running 2-4 percent per year. There is NO WAY the state system can survive. My pension sytem is more secure and is covered by local dollars.
I concur that under the current sytem municipal pensions are not sustainable and changes must be implemented immediately. However, changes must be made going forward. I cannot change my income in this economy.I have worked all but the last 18 months due to the economy and I do not have access to social security. I have nothing to fall back on except work. Which I am trying to find!
Understand that I think the Bell, CA situation is obscenely stupid. But please use caution about public pensions unless looking at it, in part, through the prism of history.