City in Rhode Island Asks Retirees to Sacrifice

New York Times ^ | July 19, 2011 | Abby Goodnough

[Zakeet]

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — The retirees came from near and far, gathering in a muggy auditorium here to listen to an urgent pitch: give back a big chunk of your pension or risk losing it all.

This city of 19,000 is broke and headed for bankruptcy, partly because it has promised retired police and firefighters millions of dollars in pensions and benefits that it cannot begin to afford.

And so Robert G. Flanders Jr., a state-appointed receiver who is trying to right the city’s finances, found himself on the stage at Central Falls High School on Tuesday, asking retirees to help solve “a horrible dilemma” by giving up a significant part of what they had always assumed was untouchable income.

“No one blames any of you for this situation,” Mr. Flanders told the retirees, many of whom appeared well into their 70s and 80s. “We understand, believe me, that we are asking for great unanticipated sacrifices. But there is simply no money in the city to continue on the current path.”

[Snip]

But the initial response suggested it would be no easy sell. Why should they be punished for the city’s financial missteps over the years, some retirees asked? Why not keep raising taxes instead?

[Snip]

Like many other municipal workers around the country, public safety employees in Central Falls do not pay into Social Security and thus get no Social Security benefits after retirement, a point that several complained about at the meeting.

Although many of the retirees were elderly, some in the crowd were still in their 40s and 50s, people who were allowed to retire early under the city’s rules.

[silverleaf]

Imagine that

the people who have worked and saved and invested for 40 years or more are “the wealthiest group in America”

selfish bastards
give it up

Don't they know young people are stretched to pay for for their kids' tutors, student loans for grad school tuition, private schools, camps, music lessons, sports leagues and equipment, $100 NIKE sneakers, RV’s, HDTV, HBO, IPODs, iphones, creditcard bills, and mortgages on houses with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, stainless steel appliances, granite counters, hard wood floors Plus 2 car payments and the truck which is hubby's mantoy

I have an idea to equalize property taxes like you think is fair - everyone pay the same rate- based on what you paid for the house

When my in-laws paid $40K for their house, their take home pay was a couple hundred dollars a week, house payments were 25% of their income after tax.

Now their house is paid off, worth maybe $220K, so they are “the wealthiest group in America” with property taxes higher than their mortgage used to be and costing almost 30% of their annual income which is shrinking, not growing. Frankly they are in a sinking ship but can't or wont jump, have this selfish desire to die in their home jump

Yeah “they should get the money from the same place young people get it”, get a job

Got any tips for resume writing for those in their 70’s?
(oh and workplace must not have stairs or require lifting or manual dexterity due to arthritis)

[TexasFreeper2009]

Throughout all of human history until FDR people worked their entire lives.

The myth of “retirement” was created to trick the old into voluntarily quitting their jobs in order to free up jobs for younger workers to artificially lower the unemployment numbers, with the side benefit that younger workers cost less, which helps businesses be more profitable.

If you choose to fall for this scam and quit your job thinking you would spend your “golden years” traveling the world, or on the golf course, then i’ve got some ocean front property to sell you in Arizona.

[RitchieAprile]

well I am 60 and face jobhunting constantly. best tip I can offer is to project work ethic and ability to learn.

emphasize projects you’ve done that use up to date technology when possible.

keep the resume no more than 20 years long..

[BilLies]

Are telling me that old, +65, don’t have to pay property taxes in Texas? I surprised that people aren’t moving from Florida to Texas.
I live in upstate New York and 75% of my property taxes goes for grades k-12 and my children have been out of high school between 26 and 31 years. When there is a school budget vote 90% of the school district employees and parents of school children own the vote.

[rawhide]

If the city defaults, some judge wil step in and demand the town raise taxes immediately to cover the pension payouts. When people start to move and businesses close, the judge will order higher taxes. And one day there will no one left to tax.

[Andy'smom]

Plus it’s tiny, a little over 1 square mile.

[Venturer]

I am not familiar with budgets as large as this , but I have seen what they sometimes call a cut.

In their minds if the cut the increase, they have cut the expenditure.

In other words if the increase would be 100 dollars this year and they cut that increase by 8 dollars they would call that an 8% cut.

They never touch the original 100 dollars, just the increase.

If you think they will freeze today’s 100 dollars and reduce it by 8%, I agree you may be dreaming.

Finagling figures is about all this government does well.

[TexasFreeper2009]

They pay property taxes, the taxes are just fixed at whatever they were paying when they turned 65.

[Texan]

Thanks for your excellent posts. You say it so well.

[SZonian]

In CA, before Prop 13, folks young and old were being taxed out of their homes.

There comes a point where a person’s income just can’t keep up with the demands (taxes) of local governments.

Prop 13 helped fix this by placing a very strict limit on how much the property taxes can go up each year. Trust me, they go up every year.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m no proponent of gov’t thievery (taxes), but they’re not going away anytime soon.

Those that are placing the most demand on the “services” of a particular area, should be paying the most.

Seniors have already paid their part, IMO, they are due for a reduction.