by Ron DeLord | Jun 6, 2016 | Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
Pensions are good. Pensions are worth preserving until something better comes along. But pensions that make impossible promises and cultivate lies are not the pensions we should hope for. If you are fortunate enough to have a pension these days (and you’re probably...
by Ron DeLord | Jun 6, 2016 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Unions
Chicago taxpayers will save $1 billion on police and fire pension costs in the short term under a law the General Assembly approved Monday after some House Republicans bucked their governor, who had railed against it as a ridiculous expansion of the Illinois’...
by Ron DeLord | May 31, 2016 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Pensions, Politics, Unions
May 22–Eleven firefighters received pension payments exceeding $500,000 last year, and all of them did so by taking part in a little-known loophole in one of San Diego’s most controversial employee benefit programs. The Deferred Retirement Option Plan, or...
by Ron DeLord | May 31, 2016 | Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
So if you don’t live in Irwindale, rejoice: There, even when you look at it through rose-colored glasses, public pension liabilities equal $32,447 for each and every household in the city. Slap on a skeptic’s glasses, and that load skyrockets to $134,907 per...
by Ron DeLord | May 31, 2016 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
WESTERLY — A member of the Westerly Town Council who has worked as a financial planner for 33 years says the town’s police pension plan is one recession away from calamity. “I believe the police pension will go into critical condition in the next economic downturn,”...
by Ron DeLord | May 31, 2016 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
John F. Street, Lynne Abraham, and Sylvester Johnson are long gone from city government, but certainly not forgotten. In fact, taxpayers continue to send each more than $100,0000 a year for their former service as mayor, district attorney, and police commissioner,...