These stories always remind me of Wile E. Coyote. Virtually every municipality and State in this delusional empire of debt nation has promised their vast horde of government drones gold plated pensions. They have done so based on false assumptions, absence of a politicians’ backbone to stand up to government unions, total failure to understand the most simple mathematical concepts, and pure stupidity on the part of government bureaucrats, elected officials, and the ignorant masses who elect them. The majority of this country thinks you can get something for nothing. They think paying government drones pensions at 100% of their final salary for 30 years after they retire at 50 years old is sustainable and fair. Well it’s not sustainable.
States and municipalities have to balance their budgets annually. As these ridiculous pension amounts grow exponentially, the choices are to cut other spending or drastically increase taxes. How long will citizens put up with this crap? The government teachers suck. The second responders treat people like dirt. We add more firefighters as the number of fires hits an all-time low. We the people – the milking cows for the bloated government bureaucracy – have run dry. Gravity is about to take over. Government drones across the land are going to see how much a promise is really worth.
Valley cities are experiencing sticker shock over a $28.6 million spike in police and fire pension bills for next fiscal year.
Seven cities will fork over more money, with Mesa taking the biggest hit, an $8.7 million increase, and Phoenix coming in second, at $6 million.
Tempe and Glendale will experience the next-highest spikes of $4.2 million and $3.3 million, respectively, followed by Chandler at $2.7 million, Scottsdale at $2.6 million and Gilbert at $1.1 million.
Cities have seen their pension costs rise steadily in recent years, but next year they will experience the additional bump mostly due to the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to strike down part of a 2011 state law crafted to rein in pension costs.
As part of the February 2014 ruling, the court ruled the state’s Public Safety Personnel Retirement System must repay retirees $40 million for previous cost-of-living increases and set aside $335 million in a reserve fund for future increases.
The decision means most Arizona cities will see their pension bills skyrocket next fiscal year.
And as pension bills climb, cities must scramble to fill the gaps with limited budget dollars, which could translate into less funding for parks, roads and other city services.
“We’re feeling this pressure of some of these costs that we just can’t control,” said Mesa City Manager Chris Brady. “We have to absorb over $8 million in public-safety pension costs. That’s a huge number. Every police officer, every (firefighter) we hire has just got that much more expensive. So it’s putting a big strain there. So we’re having to ask for departments to come up with some efficiency savings to be able to help us make up for those kinds of differences.”
Continue reading “ATTEMPTING TO SUSTAIN THE UNSUSTAINABLE”
