Pensions killing NY

Obama is the leader of the regime.

hey lrg. you want to get rid of democracy to promote your ideal form of capitalism? slippery slope there. idiot.

regime? hey, we voted for him.

They voted for Chavez, for Castro, for Stalin for Hitler and you all voted for Obama. The elected head of the regime.

your stupidity is breathtaking.

Castro/Stalin were elected? Well I think the history says otherwise? Both of them were products of revolutions, and neither was elected by general election.

Oh republicans don't waste money? I wonder there were so big spikes of deficit during Reagan/Bushes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms

darkbird... google castro elections.. castro calls his elections most democratic. Same with Stalin.

when aboutready starts talking about politics, democracy and freedom, she writes some of the most idiotic, disgusting things I have ever seen. Even dumber than her comments about economics.

The leader of the regime has his boot on the throat of the American people.

Great, the Robert Kiyosaki faker is back

columbiacounty :
Can we agree on the following?

No one wants to give up what they see as rightfully theirs. We as a society can no longer afford to make good on what we have promised?

We can continue to scream at each other, perhaps louder and louder. Or, we can begin to look at this problem honestly and understand that there is an obvious solution.

"No one wants to give up what they see as rightfully theirs" Only what you worked for is rightfully yours.Not some lousy government handout.

darkbird

Oh republicans don't waste money? I wonder there were so big spikes of deficit during Reagan/Bushes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms

Yo Darkbird, I likes this data, you got the link to the same data based on who was leading Congress each term..i.e. the folks who control the budget, tax policy, appropriations etc..

@patient09

I can tell you from the top of my head: that during Regan and Bush jr congress was republican (except may be one or two 2 years period out of 16 years)

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774721.html

Ah I am right.

Regan never had a republican house.

Reagan

dark: You may be right, but I think you are very wrong, I think for most folks on this thread there have only been two repub leaders that I can recall, Gingrich and Hastert. and those were for not that long of a stretch. Congressional leadership has generally been the domain of the democrats. I think.

the dems had the house for 40 yeasr until 1994.

For the last 50-60 years how many times the house was republican? Is that a rhetorical question?

These political threads on a real estate blog are hilarious! The usual suspects (curmudgeons of all strips) show up and grouse.

Thanks for the laugh of my night.

your welcome glinda. Go listen to npr for the serious stuff. I am sure you love the safe conformity.

This explains it all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D0VhS8qXT0&feature=player_embedded#!

New York Is Almost Out of Cash

The state won't be able to meet its June 1 commitments to school districts.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704717004575268293014677912.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

As David Einhorn wrote
"Modern Keynesianism works great until it doesn’t. No one really knows where the line is"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

According to the Bank for International Settlements, the United States’ structural deficit — the amount of our deficit adjusted for the economic cycle — has increased from 3.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2007 to 9.2 percent in 2010. This does not take into account the very large liabilities the government has taken on by socializing losses in the housing market. We have not seen the bills for bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and even more so the Federal Housing Administration, which is issuing government-guaranteed loans to non-creditworthy borrowers on terms easier than anything offered during the housing bubble. Government accounting is done on a cash basis, so promises to pay in the future — whether Social Security benefits or loan guarantees — do not count in the budget until the money goes out the door.
----------------------------------------
and how cpi is bogus!

While the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, this doesn’t even take into account inflation we ignore by using a basket of goods that don’t match the real-world cost of living. (For example, health care costs are one-sixth of G.D.P. but only one-sixteenth of the price index, and rising income and payroll taxes do not count as inflation at all.)

Why does the government understate rising costs? Low official inflation benefits the government by reducing inflation-indexed payments, including Social Security. Lower official inflation means higher reported real G.D.P., higher reported real income and higher reported productivity.

Subdued reported inflation also enables the Fed to rationalize easy money. The Fed wants to have low interest rates to fight unemployment, which, in a new version of the trickle-down theory, it believes can be addressed through higher stock prices. The Fed hopes that by denying savers an adequate return in risk-free assets like savings deposits, it will force them to speculate in stocks and other “risky assets.” This speculation drives stock prices higher, which creates a “wealth effect” when the lucky speculators spend some of their gains on goods and services. The purchases increase aggregate demand and lead to job creation.

Easy money also aids the banks, helping them earn back their still unacknowledged losses. This has the perverse effect of discouraging banks from making new loans. If banks can lend to the government, with no capital charge and no perceived risk and earn an adequate spread, then they have little incentive to lend to small businesses or consumers. (For this reason, higher short-term rates could very well stimulate additional lending to the private sector.)

Easy money also helps the fiscal position of the government. Lower borrowing costs mean lower deficits. In effect, negative real interest rates are indirect debt monetization. Allowing borrowers, including the government, to get addicted to unsustainably low rates creates enormous solvency risks when rates eventually rise.

EASY money has negative consequences in addition to the risk of inflation and devaluing the dollar. It can also feed asset bubbles. In recent years, we have gone from one bubble and bailout to the next. Each bailout has rewarded those who acted imprudently. This has encouraged additional risky behavior, feeding the creation of new, larger bubbles.

The Fed bailed out the equity markets after the crash of 1987, which fed a boom ending with the Mexican crisis and bailout. That Treasury-financed bailout started a bubble in emerging market debt, which ended with the Asian currency crisis and Russian default. The resulting organized rescue of Long-Term Capital Management’s counterparties spurred the Internet bubble. After that popped, the rescue led to the housing and credit bubble. The deflationary aspects of that bubble popping created a bubble in sovereign debt, despite the fiscal strains created by the bailouts. The Greek crisis may be the first sign of the sovereign debt bubble bursting.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Public sector jobs used to offer greater job security but lower pay. Not anymore. In 2008, according to the Cato Institute, the average federal civilian salary with benefits was $119,982, compared with $59,909 for the average private sector worker; the disparity has grown enormously over the last decade.
--------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/opinion/27einhorn.html?dbk

hey LICComment
you should cool down with a swim in newtown creek--
it's amusing you feel so ripped off by the working class, but youre so comfortable having been completely fleeced by LICC real estate developers

"No one wants to give up what they see as rightfully theirs. We as a society can no longer afford to make good on what we have promised?"

We didn't promise $250k lifetime pensions.

The "promise" argument is non-sense. Union contracts have terms, at which time a new contract is negotiated. Teachers already have a tiered pension system.

"And the MATA wastes millions of dollars on security cameras that do not work. Instead of blaming unions, why not blame management? "

Because the unions are BY FAR the majority of costs. And weren't the people who installed the cameras union members? ;-0

"And before folks do the "how can they" fake outrage stuff, consider that a HUGE chunk of cops have second jobs already? I can't tell you how many I know that do contracting and such."

"So what? Maybe they need the money. NYPD cops make 25% less than the average suburban cop, FYI. "

Well, perhaps they wouldn't "have" to retire at 40 if they weren't moonlighting.

"It's cheaper to give overtime than it is to hire new workers. Less benefits this way. Your only paying 1 health insurance premium instead of 2"

Alpo, as usual, you have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.

Overtime is not only only paid at time and a half (which is already more than hiring a newer cheaper employee WITH BENEFITS) the overtime gets factored into the pensions (so MORE benefits).

You need to stop talking now... you have ZERO idea what you are talking about.

"Who? According to the DOE website, the max salary for a teacher is $100k. Please give names or shut up and stop spewing anti union nonsense. "

Genius, its been 10 seconds, and you forgot about overtime already. There are CERTAINLY teachers making more than $100k.

Take your own advice... please get a clue or shut up.

"How about you don't tell someone how to do their job and they won't tell you how to do your job?"

Alpo, this is why you are a leech on society.

If you employ someone, you not only have every right to tell someone how to do their job, you are stupid if you don't.

"The_President...Hey Einstein.. Haiti and Somalia are dictatorships. Please look up capitalism and educate yourself. "

alpo is a moron

The leader of the regime is holding a press conference with the state run media. Let us see the really tough questions.

"And weren't the people who installed the cameras union members? ;-0"

No, they were installed by a 3rd party contractor, not the MTA:

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/traffic/mta/mta-promises-more-subway-cameras-20100331

"Overtime is not only only paid at time and a half (which is already more than hiring a newer cheaper employee WITH BENEFITS) the overtime gets factored into the pensions (so MORE benefits)."

Only the last year of overtime. Your final year's pay is cut in half and that is your pension.

You clearly have no idea what your talking about, so just shut up.

Haiti is a democracy.

"If you employ someone, you not only have every right to tell someone how to do their job, you are stupid if you don't."

Only if you know something about the job. You know NOTHING about teaching, which means you should zip it.

When I hire a plumber or electrician, I do not tell them what to do because I do not know anything about it. I don't tell my doctor what to do since I don't have an MD.

First news conference in 338 days for the leader of the regime.

> Only the last year of overtime.

Nope, alpo. Wrong again.

Seriously, do you make this stuff up or get it from a different idiot?

Haiti is the leader of the regime's favorite type of democracy. Chavez like.

The leader of the regime is taking 12 minutes to answer 1 question.

> Only if you know something about the job. You know NOTHING about teaching, which means you should zip it

Now you're just lying, so you should shut your moronic mouth.

"When I hire a plumber or electrician, I do not tell them what to do because I do not know anything about it."

Genius, when the plumber floods your house and the electrician burns it down, do you stay mum? Do you keep paying them?

Of course you do, because you are a union moron.

MYFOXNY.COM - It's good news, or so it would seem: The MTA plans to add 900 new security cameras by June. They're being installed by a different contractor than the one that never finished the original job.

vs

"And weren't the people who installed the cameras union members?"

please explain the apparent disconnection of your comment from reality

this is privatization at work??

"> Only the last year of overtime.

Nope, alpo. Wrong again.

Seriously, do you make this stuff up or get it from a different idiot?"

If you want to say everything I say is wrong just because it comes from me, go ahead. But I kind of know how transit worker pensions are calculated since my father gets one every month. The last year's pay is cut in half and that is your pension.

"this is privatization at work??"

Sure is. Isn't it great? This is the kind of privatization supoported by people like somewherelese and his cronies. Contracts get awared to political donors, so what else would you expect? Security cameras that work???

"Of course you do, because you are a union moron."

I don't belong to a union fool, and I never have.

> If you want to say everything I say is wrong just because it comes from me, go ahead.

No, I say you are wrong when you are wrong.

"But I kind of know how transit worker pensions are calculated since my father gets one every month."

And I have a family member (two actually) in the teacher's union. And it CERTAINLY 'aint just the last year.

and you're even wrong about the MTA!

"Pensions are calculated using the earnings of the three highest consecutive years in the last 10 years of employment with the MTA. In addition, the two years prior to your three highest years come into play. "

and...

"Divide by half then add 10%."

Again, alpo, why do you speak when everything you say is wrong?

hey, giuliani awarded a no bid contract to motorola for upgrade to the police radio system after the systems awful flaws were made obvious in WTC ONE in 1992---the bungled upgrade caused the unnecessary deathes of numerous first responders in 9/11---

you know, those dead union guys--bet their families are trying to leach off us hardworking capitalists as we speak

"union morons"

Unions are relics of the early 20th century. The left has the same old play book.( Unions, big government, tax and spend) The problem now is the country, the states, and the cities are bankrupt. The entitlement spending has bankrupted social western democracies.

"The left has the same old play book.( Unions, big government, tax and spend)"

So you just calssified Reagan aand Bush 41 s part of the left! Oh my. You are going to get Rush Limbaugh angry at you!

The leader of the regime appeared very uncomfortable and worried at the propaganda conference.

dick cheney: "we're going to run the deficits"

and so they did!!

Dick Cheney is not VP any more. Demos were brought in to clean it up and all they did was try to prove 2 wrongs made a right; and that if Repubs can run up debts then so can we except for entitlement spending (but not stop spending on the war either).

Further, explain to me how some guy driving a dump truck gets 70k a year.

Just for the record i worked in gov't for 6 years as a numbers guy, and I can't remember exactly how it worked but it is more or less something like 60% of your average last 3 years deoending what tier you are. So Mr President (president of what?) what his name had it right by and large.

"Dick Cheney is not VP any more. Demos were brought in to clean it up and all they did was try to prove 2 wrongs made a right; and that if Repubs can run up debts then so can we except for entitlement spending (but not stop spending on the war either)."

bingo... the time for "well they are worse" is gone.

"Just for the record i worked in gov't for 6 years as a numbers guy, and I can't remember exactly how it worked but it is more or less something like 60% of your average last 3 years deoending what tier you are. So Mr President (president of what?) what his name had it right by and large"

No, alpo (now the president of stupidity) claimed one year and 50%, it was me that corrected him with the 60% and the multiple years.

isn't it also dependent on years of service? I know that for teachers in NJ it is - basic formula is average of last 3 yrs salary*yrs of service/55. So a teacher whose last 3yrs average was 75k, who was in the system for 35yrs, would have a pension of 48k (which adjusts with inflation).

Well, you need a minimum number of years to get the pension at all.... and it ramps up... but we're talking about full pension folks.

MTA in at least certain parts actually does top 3 consecutive years out of last 10...

WHy does everyone here hate unions so much? What happened, were you beaten up by an SEIU purple shirt? Did the mean old AFL-CIO push you out of a window? Did the TWU take away your candy? Did a UFT teacher give yo an F in the 2nd grade?

Why do you defend sucking taxpayers dry by giving away excessive pension benefits to union workers, which is the major problem with government spending today?

Corruption, inefficiency, beauracracy, politics, red tape, city and state going bust... and our kids SUFFERING while folks ask for raises.

What's not to love?

lets flip this around... alpo, why are you so pro-union that you'll lie about the truth?

You getting union kickbacks? Your mom a mafia kingpin?

LICcomm, what makes you think the pension benefits are excessive?

hmm I would think if the city and state go broke every time wall stereet does not have a banner year then it is excessive. why should some stiff make 70k for driving some dump truck when tax rates are already 50% of what a corp. makes and what an individuals makes

"Corruption, inefficiency, beauracracy, politics, red tape, city and state going bust... and our kids SUFFERING while folks ask for raises."

So there is absolutely no corruption whatsoever in non-union businesses, right?

And the city and state going bust has nothing to do with Wall St. causing a recession, right? It's all the union's fault.

And how are kids "suffering"? Are they going to bed hungry? Are they living in the street? Are they being denied health care? Please, do tell me how a kid with a cell phone, iPod, and a PSP in their book bag is "suffering."

"Why do you defend sucking taxpayers dry by giving away excessive pension benefits to union workers, which is the major problem with government spending today?"

I'll stop defending uniosn when politicans stop sucking taxpyers dry by doling out contracts to their donors. Chris Christie recently announced that he is going to privatize several thousand state jobs. And the guy in charge of the privatiziation panel is an ex-lobbyist! Oh boy, I can't wait to see what happens. I'm sure the contracts will be awarded fairly because lobbyists are very ethical people....

> So there is absolutely no corruption whatsoever in non-union businesses, right?

Since when do two wrongs make a right?

> And how are kids "suffering"?

OK, alpo, its time for you to go to bed. If you don't think the education system is failing our kids, its only because you don't have an education.

"I'll stop defending uniosn when politicans stop sucking taxpyers dry by doling out contracts to their donors"

Yes, unions, alpo has given you permission to steal, screw our kids, blow up buildings, do whatever you want...

because two wrongs make a right!

Now I get it, alpo thinks the NYC public education system is fine as it is!

As long as teachers can get paid $130k and the students don't shoot them!

Unions are not to blame for failing schools. If a school si failing, it is because the kids and parents don't give a damn. Why are suburban schools so far ahead of city schools? They are unionized just like city schools are.

alan, I'm not surprised you would just ignore all the commentary above proving how the benefits are excessive. Healthy people retiring in their 40s or 50s with lifetime defined benefit pensions and free healthcare is excessive. Throw in the increased salaries and restrictive, unproductive work rules, and the costs are wasteful too.

If you don't like the NYC public education system, then your free to move or use a private school.

So basically, LICcomm, the pension benefits are excessive simply because you decided to label them as such?

No, they're not excessive. If they allowed a residual pension to pass in perpetuity to the estate of the retiree after he dies, they wouldn't be excessive either. Because I decide not to label them as such.

Lotsa deciders.

"Unions are not to blame for failing schools. If a school si failing, it is because the kids and parents don't give a damn."

Then lets pay teachers minimum wage if they don't matter. You ok with that?

Thats not very pro-union of you.

> If you don't like the NYC public education system, then your free to move or use a private school.

Or I'm free to fix the one I pay for.

> If you don't like the NYC public education system, then your free to move or use a private school.

The second I get a refund from my taxes? Deal?

> Because I decide not to label them as such.

Nope, doesn't work that way (unless you're a politician).
You can't redefine words to "prove" your point.

Main Entry: ex·ces·sive
Pronunciation: \ik-ˈse-siv\
Function: adjective
Date: 14th century
: exceeding what is usual, proper, necessary, or normal,

It certainly wins on several of those counts.

Read this article and then you will know how destructive unions are in education...

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/31/090831fa_fact_brill

"If they allowed a residual pension to pass in perpetuity to the estate of the retiree after he dies, they wouldn't be excessive either."

Actually, they do. When my father dies, my mother gets his MTA pension. However, since my father took this option, his montly pension check is less than had he not let the pension continue after he dies.

The rubber rooms are gone BSexposer. Don't you read the newspaper?

Public schools suck because the peopel in power don't use them. Politicans all send their kids to private school.

alan, that is ridiculous (as usual for you). They are excessive because we cannot afford to pay so much for people who are not working. The tax burden is too high and hampers overall productivity. It creates a system of inefficiency, as evidenced by the lack of productivity per unit of cost in government.

Pensions and govt union employee pay are excessive compared to NON UNION govt employee pay and the private section- not just because LICC says so, but because its a fact.

The Government Pay Boom
America's most privileged class are public union workers

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281204575003101210295246.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_opinion#articleTabs%3Darticle

It turns out there really is growing inequality in America. It's the 45% premium in pay and benefits that government workers receive over the poor saps who create wealth in the private economy.

In 2008 almost half of all state and local government expenditures, or an estimated $1.1 trillion, went toward the pay and benefits of public workers. According to the BLS, in 2009 the average state or local public employee received $39.66 in total compensation per hour versus $27.42 for private workers. This means that for every $1 in pay and benefits a private employee earned, a state or local government worker received $1.45.

And its certainly not Wall Street's fault that the cronie politicians made pie in the sky promises to the unions that they could keep up paying them these crazy salaries and benefits because they were having a good time collecting all that tax revenue and handing it out in the form of pay and benefits to the union employees right away instead of saving it for a rainy day.

deficits run by cheney et al dont go away just because there's been a regime change--obama and co inherited a disaster (including a fiscal turnaround from clinton-produced surpluses to ugly deficits) which required serious stimulus so as to prevent a major depression

and the paulson/bush produced too big to fail bailouts of entities like citi boa and aig were cast well before obama could affect direction there

it will take year to clean up the sewage produced by the bushies--to blame obama and the democrats for deficits is assinine

Clinton took office with a growing economy and left with a recession. Obama has taken Bush's bad spending policies and tripled them.

"they were having a good time collecting all that tax revenue and handing it out in the form of pay and benefits to the union employees right away instead of saving it for a rainy day"

Bloomberg - you listening?

"The rubber rooms are gone BSexposer"

They should have never been there in the first place, dude. Teachers should be able to be fired for incompetence, just like everyone in the private sector. It's called accountability.

@LICComment Bush Sr had a huge deficit, not a growing economy. C

Sorry, republicans are worse then democrats at spending.

Oh and if you didn't notice I hate both parties, and republicans more because they have brain dead religious nuts.

"> If you don't like the NYC public education system, then your free to move or use a private school.

The second I get a refund from my taxes? Deal? "

No - you should just be happy paying s-loads of taxes year in and year out and getting nothing in return - just think of all the unionized households you are supporting. It's a psychic benefit.

Both parties are a bunch of thieves.

All politicians suck - we need term limits. Get them the hell out of offices they think they are entitled to for life, like royalty.

The deficit and the economy are different things. When Clinton took office, the economy was coming out of recession and was growing. When he left office, it was in recession.

giuliani spent the proceds of silicon alley and the pre 9/11 boom in tax revenues and attendant fiscal bliss with longterm commitments that are still in place today--

clinton left deficits??--are you fing nuts? we were paying down the national debt at the end of his years

i told you you should cool down with a swim in newtoen creek licc--id worry more about your RE in LIC than some working stiff's pension---gotta make money to pay taxes---

Apparently this union nonsense is going on all around the country - no wonder every state is bankrupt.

School administrators rehired, get pension and pay

5/22/10 | 35 comments
By Abigail Curtis
BDN Staff

THORNDIKE, Maine — Mount View High School Principal Lynda Letteney works hard for her paycheck, especially in a time when administrators like her in schools across Maine must constantly battle to balance their budgets.
Most days she logs between 12 and 14 hours on the job. It’s a lot of work for anyone — particularly for a retiree. Letteney, 61, officially retired from the same position almost a year ago and promptly was rehired by her school district.

“It’s strictly financial,” Letteney said recently of her decision to join more than 1,000 educators who have retired and then returned to work in the state’s school systems.

She and the others, including 56 school administrators, all get paid twice — once for the work they continue to do and once from the Maine Public Employees Retirement System, which administers their retirement benefits.

School professionals know that this can look a bit duplicitous and hard to comprehend in an era when most private companies no longer offer pensions. It might seem wrong to the legions of folks who are struggling to make ends meet after retirement.

But rehiring retirees is both legal and logical, they argue, and can benefit school districts as well as individual workers. If schools would be better served by hiring a person with plenty of experience, why not?

Is your school
on the list?
Click here to see.
“I know people always say, ‘So-and-so’s double-dipping,’” said SAD 3 Superintendent Joseph Mattos, the head of Letteney’s school district. “Well, would you rather end up with someone who’s not doing the job, who can’t do the job? If you don’t deserve the job, you’re not going to get it. It’s not like these are backdoor deals.”

Symptom of underlying problems?
Scott Moody, chief economist with the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a conservative think tank, said he has significant concerns with the state's pension system.

The center this week released a study which shows Maine's pension and retiree health care systems for government employees together are underfunded by nearly $5.1 billion.

“The fundamental reason that double-dipping can occur is because the pension systems are so generous,” he said Wednesday. “The moral of the story is it's completely unsustainable in its current form. We’re going to need to reform our pension system to make it sustainable.”

Moody said the “average Mainer” has a different understanding of the point of pensions.

“Pensions are designed so that when you retire, you can leave the work force,” he said. “The other issue is that the fine benefit system the state government workers are provided is simply not heard of now in the private sector.”

According to Sandy Matheson, executive director of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System, the state's unfunded pension liability stood at $2.9 billion as of June 30, 2008, the date cited by the center's study. Although the unfunded liability grew by about $1 billion by June 30, 2009, the next valuation is expected to show a significant decrease, she said.

A constitutional amendment passed in 1993 requires that the unfunded liability be fully paid for by 2028. “Maine's made steady progress in decreasing the size of its unfunded liability,” Matheson said.

But Moody suggested that more progress could be made with some major changes. The benefits for past and current employees legally can't be changed, although future benefits could be. He argued that the state would be better served if it moved away from a defined-benefit system and toward a contributed-benefit system as has become more common in the private sector, where employees have the option to put money into personal 401(k) programs.

Although such private retirement plans have been riding the recession roller coaster, to the dismay or fear of many, Moody said, investors are “better off” because they can see what's happening with their money.

“In a defined-benefit pension system, you don't have any control,” he said.

But that's hogwash, according to Christopher “Kit” St. John, executive director of the liberal-leaning Maine Center for Economic Policy.

Individual investors simply don't have the buying power and know-how of an entity such as the state pension system, he said, adding that it is simply unfair to compare the retirement and benefit plan of state employees with those in the private sector. For one thing, state employees and teachers who take part in the state retirement plan are not entitled to receive Social Security benefits.

“As a whole, Social Security is more generous in many ways than the state pension system,” St. John said. “People who stay in state service until they draw retirement get an adequate — not terribly good — retirement benefit. Those who leave before retirement are the ones who lose out.”

Doing the math
That could have happened to David Beal, superintendent of RSU 37 in Washington County. Beal had been working as a school superintendent in northern Maine when a family situation intervened.

“I retired because I had to return home to take care of my aging mother,” he said.

That was 15 years ago, when Beal was about 50 and had been working as an educator for 26 years. When he retired, his monthly benefit was significantly smaller than benefits received by those who had worked much longer before retiring.

According to documents the Bangor Daily News received from the Maine Public Employees Retirement System through a Freedom of Information Act request, the 56 superintendents and principals who have retired and returned to work in state school districts receive monthly pension benefits that run a wide gamut, from about $1,600 a month to $6,400 per month. The amount of money depends on many factors, including how long the retiree worked in the system, how much money they had earned during their final working years and what benefit payment option they selected upon retirement. It’s complicated, but the chance to work while receiving her pension has meant the world to Lynda Letteney, who said that her monthly benefit became fixed as soon as she retired.

“When I finally do stop working, I’m only going to get the state retirement,” she said. “You really have to do the math in several ways to see what’s best for you.”

For her, the numbers would work the best if she can continue her work as a principal until she’s 65 years old.

“But I’ve got to tell you, high school administration is very hard. It’s very draining,” she said. “I retired after 36 years. My first year, I didn’t know how people made it to five.”

Letteney now has a year-to-year contract with SAD 3, instead of the usual two-year version. Officials there said they were very happy to have her at the helm during a transitional time for Mount View. Last fall, students and faculty began using a brand-new $40 million school.

“It was for continuity,” said SAD 3 board chairman Glenn Couturier. “She seemed to be the best fit for the position.”

Mattos, the SAD 3 superintendent, said Letteney has done a “great job” during the transition and also has worked hard to improve the students’ learning climate. “If she weren’t doing that, the transition period would be over,” he said. “When someone retires, you have to think: OK, why would I hire this person back? Does this person have a certain skill that I wouldn’t see on the marketplace?”

‘Nothing but a plus’
Dale Douglass, executive director of the nonprofit Maine School Management Association, said the retired superintendents who return to work do so for various reasons. Some return as interim superintendents to replace administrators who have died or left their positions. Others work as part-time superintendents to do paper-work for remote school districts which no longer operate schools.

“If you can find someone who understands and has experience with Maine school law and school funding, and has a background in educational policies — that type of experience is invaluable,” he said. “It's a good economic investment. You’re buying people with knowledge, someone who is already trained and who has a track record that is verifiable.”

In some cases, the retired administrators can cost their cash-strapped districts a little less money because a portion of their health insurance benefit can be paid through the pension system.

Clifford McPhee, the former school board chairman of Baileyville, said he appreciated having to pay a little less for the benefits of Union 107 Superintendent Barry McLaughlin, who retired Jan. 1.

“That’s nothing but a plus for us,” he said. “By hiring a retiree, generally, it does lessen the health insurance cost to the employer,” said Christine Gianopoulos of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System. “With a retired teacher, the state subsidizes a portion of the retiree health care cost.”

The Maine Public Employees Retirement System asks only that participants meet its requirements, she said, and is not involved in the question of whether or not retired workers should be allowed to return to their old jobs at their old wages.

“It causes people to raise their eyebrows,” she said. “It’s not anything that the retirement system gets into. The law says if you’ve retired and you’re what we consider normal retirement age, you’re fine. No problems.”

there is an inherent danger in charter schools.
they are personality driven.
they are overly dependent on immediate visionary ideas.
they are impossible to get spare parts for.
Visionaries disappear or turn out to be crack pots or worse.
schools can end up directionless.
The UFT has screwed the pooch but, let's not throw out the baby with the bath water.
The teaching profession is worth saving and supporting.
Job protection is key but, the union has got to give up the dead bodies.

"the union has got to give up the dead bodies"

Good luck with that.

Not all rich people are spoiled.
Not all teachers are noble.
Not all cops are honest.
Not all capitalists are evil.
Not all Texans are obese..
But for sure, all karma will getcha.

hey you fanatical right-wing extremist nutjobs, how about that oil spill? pretty GREAT right! Goooooooooo big oil

NY POST
Mon., May. 11, 2009, 10:31 AM
OT-SOAK TEACHERS UP THEIR PAY GRADE
By YOAV GONEN Education Reporter

Last Updated: 10:31 AM, May 11, 2009

Posted: 1:35 AM, May 11, 2009

Who says teachers can't live the good life?

Some have been capitalizing on bountiful overtime gigs in the city's school system, managing to push their annual earnings up to $150,000 -- and beyond.

In addition to after-school, summer-school and coaching gigs, these teachers double as everything from budget managers to general helping hands to pad their base salaries by as much as $60,000 in one year.

The top earners rake in more than $42,500 in overtime annually. Compare that to the more typical $3,545 in overtime -- doled out in straight pay -- earned by the average teacher in fiscal year 2008.

Peter Bencivenga, a computer-science teacher at the HS of Telecommunication Arts & Technology, led the charge in OT last year by hauling in more than $60,000 extra developing a data-analysis system used by 26 schools.

The computer whiz, whose base salary is around $81,000, logged nearly 1,500 hours, an average of 30 extra hours a week, perfecting his pet project.

"This was an immense amount of work," said Phil Weinberg, principal at Telecom HS in Brooklyn, where Bencivenga works. "Peter's efforts helped many schools make significant advances."

Nick Ragusa coached track and handball at Chelsea Career & Technical Education HS and taught evening classes at another Manhattan school to rake in a total of $152,050 in 2007-08.

With a base salary of $100,000, Ragusa was the highest-earning teacher that year -- with a total take-home equivalent to the salary of the highest-paid school principal, according to Department of Education records.

William Melhado, the lone middle-school teacher to make the Top 10 list of highest earners, told officials he was pulling extra duty as the coordinator of the track, summer-meal and testing programs in his Brooklyn district for the sake of his family.

The IS 291 teacher took in more than $49,000 in OT on top of his $94,000 salary, working a total of 1,230 hours last year.

"He said he's working a lot because he wants to send his daughter to an Ivy League school," said a Department of Education spokeswoman.

The hourly OT wage, which is governed by the teachers-union contract, rose from $40 to $42 an hour last year.

Because of a 2002 teachers-union court victory, the money counts as salary when calculating pension -- which is derived from a teacher's average earnings during his or her final three years.

Other unions have managed to boost members' pensions significantly through end-of-career OT. For example, firefighters who retired last year saw an average 16 percent hike in their pensions.

Additional reporting by Chuck Bennett

yoav.gonen@nypost.com

"how about that oil spill?"

Yeah, sometimes in the wealth-generating process, accidents happen - and those who cause them get punished (see, e.g., BP's market capitalization - or lack thereof). In the wealth-destruction process (see, e.g., unionized govt workers), those who didn't cause the problem (taxpayers) end up bailing out those who did (the unions). That's the difference.

We will all pay dearly for the oil spill.
I feel this thread has gotten the best of me and apologize for any negative energy i've put out there. as the chinese saying goes, we are living in interesting times, but it's beyond that, it's unchartered territory. the problems of our world are the biggest and most complex we've faced, and it's amazing how many have been addressed in this one thread about govt pensions. there's a lot of fodder for the fire, and this is a good crowd to be at the campsite with. at the end of the day, we're all in it together.
and now, back to your regularly scheduled programming..

glamma, once again - DO THE MATH!

Interesting message board. Who can resist a discussion about the pensions killing the budget and being a big component of our big taxes here.
The pensions are here because of strong union bargaining. Now unions were necessary for the worker against the big corporations that historically were rather abusive to workers. But their private sector power leeched into the government municipal sectors, even though they weren't necessary. After all, the average worker Joe had plenty of popular protections within the municipal sectors. So the unions extracted more than even private company wages AND benefits. Good for them of course, everyone is entitled to bargain to the best of their ability and get the most for their efforts..
But, anyone who thinks that universal government system healthcare is a good solution needs only look at this situation to see what adding more people to the government payrolls will do in context of another huge scale entitlement. Unfortunately, as nice as the goal of universal healthcare is (and ensuring we are limiting to US Citizens is important regardless), this will be a disaster and mean even more destruction of a sane economy.

"Good for them of course, everyone is entitled to bargain to the best of their ability and get the most for their efforts.". Except the unions are bargaining with corrupt politicians who are giving away other people's money. The corrupt politicians are buying votes and don't care about their destructive actions.

Well listen, that's not quite the union's issue.

"Well listen, that's not quite the union's issue" The unions love the game. They provide the votes then get pid off with the contracts.

And as the unions are responsible to their members, they are doing the right thing for them.