How state lawmakers pump up pensions in ways workers can’t
By Thomas Frank, USA Today
At age 55, South Carolina state Sen. David Thomas began collecting a pension for his legislative service without leaving office.
Most workers must retire from their jobs before getting retirement benefits. But Thomas used a one-sentence law that he and his colleagues passed in 2002 to let legislators receive a taxpayer-funded pension instead of a salary after serving for 30 years.
Thomas’ $32,390 annual retirement benefit — paid for the rest of his life — is more than triple the $10,400 salary he gave up. His pension exceeds the salary because of another perk: Lawmakers voted to count their expenses in the salary used to calculate their pensions.
No other South Carolina state workers get those perks.
Since January 2005, Thomas, a Republican, has made $148,435 more than a legislative salary would have paid, his financial-disclosure records show. At least four other South Carolina lawmakers are getting pensions instead of salaries, netting an extra $292,000 since 2005, records show.
Pension perks aren’t unique to legislators in South Carolina.
More than 4,100 legislators in 33 states are positioned to benefit from special retirement laws that they and their predecessors have enacted to boost their pensions by up to $100,000 a year, a USA TODAY investigation found. Even as legislators cut basic state services and slash benefits for police, teachers and other workers, they have preserved pension laws that grant themselves perks unavailable to voters they serve or workers they direct.
Government pension scams are a big part of what has gone wrong in America.
You don’t have to look at NC for details of the problem.
In El Dorado county for instance it has been reported in this paper that there is a $264 Million dollar unfunded Pension liability.
What has not been clear is the unfunded Retirement benefit liability
Joe Harn confirmed yesterday that in addition to the pension short coming there is a health benefit liability. My estmate $80 million or more. This is the fuzzy area where our government has hidden this cost.
Harn did not confirm or deny that estimate. If it was less than that I think he would have denied it. He didn’t.
If you add to that to the orriginal pension number you end up with $344 Million dollars.
Plus add in the stock market losses that likely occured to the pension account over the last quarter and at this point in time I suspect that El Dorado county is more than $370 million dollars
upside down on the retirement account.
Sooner or later the blissfull ignorance will where off in CA and the taxpayer will realize you’ve been had.
Good luck and good bye.
Opps. It’s SC not NC
on the cell phone I can’t proof read the beginning of the post easily.
What’s is the problem with our public servants living high off the taxpayer largesse. We elected them and they passed laws that benefit themselves. All perfectly legal, but possibly deceitful and immoral.
Pubworkstv post above says the county of El Dorado is Three hundred seventy million dollars short on the retirement account. I can’t get over that number.
$370,000,000 for the county alone or does that include city of SLT too?
If it’s true, who has to pay that?
County Taxpayers? No way!
To: Where is the turnip truck-YOU SAID IT!! In all the things I’ve posted, you pretty much consolidated in your post!!!