Try $90,791. That's the AVERAGE.
So says the City Administrative Officer. That little factoid was buried on page 20 of the PowerPoint presentation he gave the City Council yesterday about how the pension blob is eating the City alive.
Don't take my good-as-gold word for it. Here's the slide so you can see for yourself:
Plus, that's not even the main body of the blob.
The entire City budget right now is about $6.7 billion. Guess how much of that money goes to pay for the pensions and health benefits of City employees -- not counting DWP employees?
The current figure is over $800 million. That's nearly 12% of the entire budget, before you even start paying salaries!
Over $400 million per year goes for civilian employees, plus over $400 million for police and fire fighters. Here are the CAO's power point slides showing the details:
So, right now, you've got nearly 12% of the budget devoted not even to salary, but to pensions and insurance.
Get out your crystal ball, and the picture gets twice as bad. The CAO projects that in less than five years -- when the City adopts its 2015-2016 budget -- the figure will exceed $1.7 billion per year. That represents over 25% of the City's current revenues -- which are declining, rather than growing, by the way.
As shown in his PowerPoint slides, he expects the civilian pension and insurance will cost over $800 million per year, and the police and fire fighters number will climb above $900 million per year:
Bottom line: It's time for union leaders and members to wake up and smell the pension reform. Even the apathetic, uninformed voters of Los Angeles aren't going to sit idly by while you sit idly by in a platinum-plated retirement. You can either go pro-active and try to help solve this problem, or you can act all surprised in a few months or years when your jobs are privatized and your pensions go "poof."
The blob manages to wipe out plenty of people on its rampage, but the people always kill it in the end.
Doe LA city have a budget yet? Maybe those poor experts can't read or add.
ReplyDeleteSo you want to privitize police, fire and the city attorney? That way only the rich will get police and fire protection and only those who can pay private attorney fees will get the city attorney. Private attorneys charge hundred of dollars per hour for court appearances. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI must have missed the part of my essay about privatizing police and fire. Can you point that out to me, because I don't recall saying anything about that.
ReplyDeleteAs for city attorneys, have you actually looked at the budget for the City Attorney's office? The City ALREADY spends millions on outside counsel.
I also notice you omit to mention the REST of the tens of thousands of people on the City payroll. Are you saying private contractors cannot pick up trash, repair streets, trim trees, inspect buildings, process accounts receivable, etc.?
I didn't think so.
So instead of attacking straw men, why not just come to grips with the fact that the current pension plan is unrealistically lavish? It's not a personal attack on you. It is an objective, actuarial observation. You can deal with it or live in denial. Your call.