Pensions bankrupting NYC

or maybe 50% deductable maintenance is bankrupting the city. id rather pay firefighters

Get rid of the 50% deductible maintenance and the $242,000 pensions.

city budget has gone up substantially. taxes collected have gone up substantially. it isn't that they aren't getting enough... they're spending too much.

And pensions are the biggest driver of spending growth.

I'd rather pay for MORE firefighters, not 1 retired one getting the salary of 5.

I wouldn't even want to see figures on the MTA pensions, I'd be seeing red for a week. I'm sure the ones for cops/firemen are ridiculous but they do risk their lives at least. What do MTA workers do other than sleep, not work and generally show themselves to be unhelpful.

Its one thing for there to be these ridiculous pensions. The worst part is that folks who SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED a long time ago collect them.

We send teachers who would be fired from any private school (some for sexual abuse) to rubber rooms and continue to pay them. We can't get rid of these types of teachers, so no way we can get rid of teachers who are just not very good.

I'd pay more for teachers if there was any quality assurance... but we have the opposite.

The corrupt NYS legislature was bought off by the UFT and put a law into place saying PERFORMANCE could not be a factor in TENURE. We kidding there? Forget that public school teachers don't need tenure - they aren't doing research - but WHY THE HELL HAVE TENURE IF ITS NOT ABOUT PERFORMANCE?

The Democratic Party sold out to the WFP/ACORN/UFT and we're all going to be paying for this for a LONG time to come.

Pensions and other fixed obligation are completely blowing the nyc and nys budget. I don't there is a chance that it will ever be dealt with. They'll just keep raising taxes.

"I'd rather pay for MORE firefighters, not 1 retired one getting the salary of 5."

Pay them now or pay them later.

The only reason most men put their lives on the line as firefighters and police officers for their paltry pay (most firefighters never make more than $50K their entire careers) is the delayed payoff of a solid pension.

Take that away, and you'll have to start offering higher salaries as an incentive to work these dangerous jobs that require decades of working overnights, weekends, and holidays where you never know if you're coming home at the end of your shift.

I somehow doubt the $242,000-pension-official was EVER in the line of fire. Usually, the working stiffs risk their life and limb for peanuts, while the top brass collects outlandish salaries & pensions both before and after retirement.

Any fiscal reform should start with firing from the top.