Pension obligations have bankrupted cities such as Stockton, Calif., and have helped destroy the business environment in Illinois.
Senate Bill 16 would dragoon the state’s public pensions into service of the climate change agenda, fiduciary responsibility to the pensioners be damned.
Higher teacher pay won’t improve the abysmal performance of public schools.
By emptying the cash fund now, Governor Polis eliminates the cushion it provides for years where tax income falls short of expectations, which are likely to coincide with years of lean returns for PERA.
Since bad years hurt more than good years help, and since greater volatility increases both the frequency and severity of bad years, volatility is the enemy of long-term solvency.
This was the fourth losing year since 2000, and PERA was reduced to noting with grim satisfaction that its benchmarks had performed at -3.6% for the year.
The tactic was something Bell tried to sell to the former board as well. Former president Ken Witt pointed out that it amounted to the board taking out a loan without voter approval, then apologizing to the voters and asking them to give them the money anyway.
ObamaCare will permanently JeffCo’s budget by approximately $7 million for all budget years for the foreseeable future after 2017.
Instead of talking about real reforms to make PERA solvent in the long-run, legislators are looking at cheap, easy credit as a “quick fix” to its budgetary woes.
It is fundamentally unfair to ask the average taxpayer to work for an extra decade to fund the early retirements of their civil servants.
