An employee of the city's Department of Homeless Services is accused of having a bit too much to drink before reporting to work on New Year's Day. Nathaniel Chambers, 45, is suspected of drunk driving on his way to pick up Commissioner Robert Hess, who was waiting for a ride to the Mayor's inauguration yesterday morning. more ›

Not so surprising: The Post reports that the attrition rate for city employees for the 3rd quarter of this year "dropped to 7 percent. That compares to 8.7 percent for the same period last year, and 10.4 percent during that period in 2007 and 2006." Annual attrition is at a low of 5.1%, vs. 6.5% in 2008 and 6.7% in 2007. Mayor Bloomberg said it can cause problems, "When an agency has projected to meet their reduction goals and say, 'Well, we'll downsize by attrition.' What do you do if people don't retire? And that's exactly what has happened... You know, city employment is great for a lot of people. They like working here." more ›

Deputy Mayor Ed Sklyer warned that the city's pension costs threaten the city's financial health. According to the NY Post, he told the Citizens Budget Commission, "Defined benefit plans such as what the city has were designed in an earlier generation and are not only obsolete but unaffordable. The private companies that have them, such as GM, are facing bankruptcy and bailouts. The city will be in the same position if we don't get these costs under control." Because of rising pension and health benefit costs, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson support a bill that would ask city employees to work for at least 25 years (instead of the current 20) and retire at a minimum age of 50 before reciving pensions. The Post notes, "Uniformed employees, such as cops, can now cash out at any age after serving 20 years," and a previous Post editorial said currently, "10,381 retired police officers under the age of 50 are collecting pensions that average $43,000 -- plus an annual "Christmas bonus" of $12,000 each. more ›