I almost spilled my morning cup of coffee the other day when I scanned the Google news headlines and found this little tidbit flashing on my screen: “Soaring pension costs will drive up North County property taxes.”
I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the source was a public radio station in upstate New York, which apparently also has a “North County.” But the more I read, the angrier I became. State comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is warning that a steep drop in New York’s state pension fund will likely force local governments to hike property taxes. Mandatory pension contributions are going to jump 37 percent over the next two years, and guess who’s going to have to foot the bill? That’s right, the ordinary citizens of the great state of New York, who sweated, slaved and saved for their own little piece of the American Dream.
Here in California, property owners are less of a target for this public strong-arm robbery thanks to Proposition 13, which keeps our property taxes in check. But, as the saying goes, there but for the grace of God go we….
This is just one more example of why something needs to be done about these out-of-control public pensions. And fortunately, up in Carlsbad, a foresighted city council has drafted an initiative to bring pensions back to reasonable levels and keep them there as a matter of public law.
Proposition G, which will appear on the November ballot, locks into place a two-tier benefits structure for public safety employees that was approved by the council in May—on a 4-1 vote, with councilman Keith Blackburn, now running for mayor, the lone union vote. Existing employees will still be able to retire at age 50 on a pension of 3 percent of their peak-year salary for each year they worked—an incredibly generous deal that lets some 50-year-olds retire at 90 percent of their highest salary. New hires, however, would only qualify for 2 percent at age 50 or 2.7 percent at age 55—still a great deal that far surpasses anything available in the private sector.
Proposition G, which would save the city an estimated $2.1 million over the next 10 years, also prevents future councils from increasing pension benefits without a public vote—a key provision, given the fact that public unions are aggressively trying to buy elections up and down the state by pouring money into the campaign coffers of labor-friendly candidates.
The ballot argument against Proposition G maintains the measure would bind the hands of future city councils.
That’s all the more reason it needs to pass. It’s time to stop pandering to labor. And I have a lot more faith in the will of the people than the whims of our elected representatives—particularly if Carlsbad, God forbid, should follow Oceanside into union control at some point in the future.
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Mister Arnold is a always a good read…I like his article a week ago when he wrote that Govt employees should not receive a better retirement than anybody else…”let them work their own 401K’s and IRA’s.” The only better idea, at least among Carlsbad’s current candidate slate, comes from me….”all city employees, less Fire and EMS, should be outsourced….ASAP…..not later than January 1 2016.” Read more, please, at MostIndependentCandidateInAmerica.com
In the meantime, Prop G is worth voting for, even though extremely timid compared to the outsourcing scenario mentioned above.
Prop G is a joke! How is the average citizen going to know if it’s a contract that should be passed or not? Are negotiations going to be televised now? Matt Hall continues to play on people’s fears! Bye Bud, Bye Matt, Bye Mark!
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