The Pension Bubble

The United States faces a ticking time bomb that needs to be defused. The threat is government pensions, almost all of which are seriously underfunded and poorly designed. Taxpayers are at risk of large tax increases, or significant cuts in services, unless changes are made. The problem exists at the federal, state, county, and city levels. It encompasses the general employee base as well as first responders. It's a large problem given the growth in government employment.

Private business has moved away from defined benefit pension plans about 25 years ago. Defined contribution plans, such as the 401K, have become the norm for business. They need to become the norm for government as well.

The following email was sent to my local newspaper and it's easier to cut and paste it than to re-type and make it fit this post. It serves the purpose nicely. Just transpose your city, county, state, federal government for Mount Dora. The plans are all similiar and almost all in trouble. If they aren't fixed, add a tax increase to the one's we will be getting for the stimulus and bailouts.

Here's my letter:

Lauren, I appreciate your desire to see Mount Dora not only retain it’s charm, but improve as the economy recovers. I share that vision. However, as a resident, and healthy taxpayer, I also expect my city to operate efficiently and show fiscal responsibility.

A major area of fiscal irresponsibility is the pension benefits currently offered to employees in the General Employee Pension Plan. I think it is entirely appropriate that the city council examines the Plan and, after study, makes changes. The current plan is not sustainable, for employees or taxpayers. Employees have not had a raise in pay for two years because the city could not afford it, largely due to an accelerating pension contribution. Not only the absolute dollars contributed to the plan, but the percentage of total payroll have skyrocketed. Additionally, investment performance has been poor. The combination of overly generous benefits and poor investment results has left the Plan in a seriously under funded position. A continued acceleration of this situation will affect all city services, as Plan contributions will take up larger and larger portions of the annual budget.

The goal of pension reform is not to harm employees. Some, however, would not have such a sweet deal. Others, the rank and file, could see paychecks actually increase as they currently pay up to 7% toward their pension plus 6% for social security. And, due to budget constraints, haven’t been receiving pay raises. Some employees may very well welcome a 401K Plan that allows them to keep a few more dollars of net pay and gives the city the flexibility to offer pay increases.

Let’s look at the Plan. It uses a .03 multiplier, and is generous on vesting, early retirement, final year income adjustments, and other components. What that means is that a long-term employee can retire with an income that exceeds his final pay level! For life! Mostly funded by taxpayers. An example: Multiplier [ .03 ] X years of service [30 years] X Final Pay. So, .03 X 30 =. 9 then, .9 X Final Pay, say, 80,000 =$72,000 PLUS Social Security of, lets say $25,000. resulting in a city/employee funded retirement income of $97,000. Remember, both city and employee pay 6% of income into social security. Most plans deduct that benefit from the pension, but the Mount Dora Plan doesn’t!

The over-riding question is should the taxpayer continue an employee’s income for life? Is 30 years of work worthy of that amount of compensation? In the past possibly as government salaries were not as generous as in private business, but for a long time city employees have enjoyed comparable pay scales.

The Council should solve the pension situation and also look at any other areas that affect the fiscal soundness of the city. Luckily for our community, the city isn’t burdened with a large debt load and if the Council acts diligently, it won’t become so.

Thanks for listening. Bill Kabourek