Can a 50 year old retired fireman earn $150,000 a year pension? YES!!
Is our current retirement and health care benefits too rich for what we can afford? Why does a average government retiree receive a pension many times larger than a private sector social security retiree? Are average government employees more important, smarter or more efficient than average private sector employees? Did you know that Nevada estimates there is a $6 billion unfunded liability in our government pension plans? Did you know that Nevada has a constitutional amendment that bans a budget deficit? Did you know that the current Pension report is unaudited?
A letter to the editor by Gerald Heetlan was published in the LVRJ 9/28/07 titled "Privileged Class" explained this problem very well. "Oh, how I would have like the opportunity to have been awarded free lifetime health care before I retired from private industry with only the 401(k) and IRA savings. I managed to accumulate from my own funds over the years I worked. No great public retirement plan that gave me a "living" income greater than any possible Social Security Benefits - and no one to pay any portion of my health care, except for the benefits of Medicare after age 65. It is way past time for our union-controlled politicians to wake up to the financial facts of life and recognize that the private sector cannot be counted on to continue to subsidize benefits for public employees that we never in our lifetime obtain in working for private employers. The idea that somehow public employees are some specially entitled class that can't be replaced if they retire early is so inconsistent with current reality, when all reasonable surveys show they are higher paid and better protected than any of their private employer counterparts. Former Gov. Kenny Guinn made an honest effort to stem the tide, but was blocked by you know who. And it will remain that way until all elected officials start working for all the citizenry and not for a privileged few." Thank You Gerald Heetlan!!!
A letter to the editor by Katie Sanderlin was published also in the LVRJ titled "Skilled Workers" on 9/29/7. seems to be pointing out the government employee point of view. "It seems that as Southern Nevada has grown, the people most beneficial to our area's future are always being cast aside. First it was our nurses, then our teachers, and now our most highly skilled public employees. The cities of Southern Nevada are some of the wealthiest in the country, which leaves me wondering where all that money is going, We have all seen what happens to a community when there are little or no skilled workers. Las Vegas, is infamous for being a haven for the unskilled. But the city and our state have flourished only because of the work of those few skilled employees. The state is slowly running those employees out, and sooner or later that will come back to haunt us."
Collins seems to agree will Sanderlin or there would be Government Pension, Health and wage reform.
The LVRJ spoke about the problem of pension reform in an editorial on 8/15/7 titled "Public-sector Pension Reform". This article pointed that Nevada is not alone in this problem. The Chicago Transit Authority is financially strained and is prepared to slash service by 8 percent next month and increase fares between 25 and 50 percent. The reason is out-of-control salary and benefit costs for its unionized work force of more than 10,000. The employees get guaranteed annual pay increases and contribute next to nothing to their defined-benefit pension and retirement health care funds. The pension fund alone has more than $2 billion in unfunded liabilities, meaning additional service cuts and fare increases could await commuters in the years ahead. Leaders of the transit authority want all future CTA hires to be enrolled in a 401 (k) type defined contribution retirement plan. Defined-benefit pensions and retirement health care subsides have all but vanished from the private sector because they bankrupt firms.