Here in Cali it’s not just the prison guards that have sweet deals. Our Fire Chief just retired at 51 with a $100k “increase” in his annual take home due to the pension setup. This guy and his spouse will get $286k per year for starters ( and it is indexed for inflation ) plus lifetime health care. If he lives to 80, and that’s a good bet with his “cadillac healthcare,” he will cost us between $8 & $9 million in pension costs alone! His deputy chief has also just retired with a similar payout at a similar age. Do the math, these benefits are not sustainable. Our worthless first police chief retired 10 years ago. He never made more than $60k, but his pension today is $128,600 (it’s a matter of public record) and this jerk is on the board of the Fire District that doled out the above-mentioned pensions. The whole thing is a disgrace!
Yes, the local firefighters are another group that have it made with pensions, along with CAL Fire.
That’s why if Brown puts a tax increase on the ballet it should be rejected as he hasn’t dealt with the public employee benefits issue or provided for a way for local entities to deal with public pensions, etc.
I suppose in the old days, perhaps public employees were actually considered ‘public servants’, sort of like teachers in the day - low pay, low benefits - working to serve the public as its own reward - well, something happened along the way.
On the other hand, in CA it seems like we are screwed given the political climate.