Redondo Beach, a community nestled in the western most section of the South Bay, hugging the coast line,. has enacted a two-tier system to curb growing pension obligations.
Creating a two-tier system for public employees, the new format will require new hires after June 30 to contribute, police officers will still receive a significant stipend following retirement, with fire-fighters taking in a significant pension.
The new formula will calculate a retiring public official's pay based on the final three years of service. However, firefighters will still receive as much as 90% of their salary in pension payouts.
No municipality should hold in low esteem the time and investment of public workers. Yet I still object handily to the very notion of paying individuals long after they retire. Why not invest in raising the salaries of public employees, and then investing them with the requisite knowledge to invest their pay properly for the future? No matter how volatile the stock market or other based programs in financial institutions, granting invididual employees the power of private investment will place greater risk on the employee, yet by granting a salary increase followed by diminished pension obligations, city governments will have fewer economic woes to shoulder through in the near future.
Of course, if public sector unions resist reforms which cost their employers less, then rapid strikes, or bankrupcty hearings, may be store for municipal governments which have promised much yet cannot deliver.
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