Dubai Debt Issues Push Stocks Down
GMA: Adam Lambert, No; Chris Brown, Yes
Family Gets Early Christmas Gift From Ellen DeGeneres
Mayor: Sex Trafficking Victims, Please Speak Up
Street Artist Proposes on Subway Signage
While Mayor Bloomberg and his staff have warned that the city's pensions could cripple the city's finances, the NY Times reports, "Interviews and budget records show that the Bloomberg administration itself is responsible for much of the growth in city pension costs over the last eight years, and has repeatedly missed opportunities to rein in the spending. A major reason: the mayor has given the city’s 300,000 workers generous pay increases, guaranteeing that they retire with bigger pensions, which are typically 50 percent of salary. Such raises force the city to make heftier payments to the pension system now." The city's contribution to the pension system is $6.2 billion, up from $1.4 billion in 2002. The mayor's office defended the pay raises as incentives for workers to be more productive and pointed out that the stock market's downturn means the city pays more. In other pension news, Bloomberg negotiated a new pension deal with the teacher's union that saves $2 billion over 20 years.
City Pensions Grew Over Four Times Under Bloomberg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebookComments (5) [rss]
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Tips
Newsmap
Contribute
Latest Tip:
Those Mariachi guys piss me off when you enter a mostly silent subway car.
[more]
He buys votes with our money as Quinn does with the slush funds. I met many supporters of Quinn who are living it big because of the slush funds received by Quinn for their support. It is a shame how people don't act up against Bloomberg and Quinn
I thought mr. economic businessman knew how to run a business. isn't that why we wanted a businessman in City Hall? all these voters saying we need a businessman in City Hall. how's it working out for you?
And are the Firefighters, Cops and Garbage Men more productive now? Are they happier and friendlier civil servants? It does not seem so.
But the people that vote for these pension increases are soon gone from office with their own little golden retirement packages. And the rest of us get to pay for it.
What is so bad about city workers getting good pensions? It's quite clear that many employers these days have stopped providing pensions to their employees. If you don't have a pension it doesn't mean that they shouldn't have pensions and be able to retire at a reasonable age. Also, shouldn't the workforce be cycled so that positions of the retirees are freed up?
Go to Florida and see the many retired NYC workers. They are doing fine with the old pension system. Nobody is denying city workers a pension or a good pension, but the new, improved, extra-large outstanding pension is too much. It's not justified as private firms are dumping employees and retirement plans for the surviving workers.