kitchen table math, the sequel: 3 to 35

Sunday, March 11, 2012

3 to 35

Three percent of New York property tax collections were used to pay pension costs in 2001; by 2015, pension costs are expected to eat up 35 percent of property tax collections.
Deficits Push N.Y. Cities and Counties to Desperation
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: March 10, 2012
I wonder if there are betting pools (yet) on how this is going to play out.

4 comments:

lgm said...

I will bet no gov't worker takes a pay freeze.

I think everyone else in private industry will move out when they retire...the 401K is not going to stretch to cover all the public servants, especially if they continue to retire so early.

Catherine Johnson said...

Did I tell you that a friend told me about a Yonkers librarian who retired in her early 50s with a 70K pension?

She's in her 50s!

I agree: I don't see how retirees with 401Ks can live here.

Instructivist said...

I saw a funny line in City Journal:

“County government is becoming a pension provider that provides government services on the side.”

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/cjc0306sg.html

Anonymous said...

The joke is recycled.

City Journal linked to this article:

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/11/2670020/pension-promises-threaten-california.html

With this quote:
"The old joke is that General Motors is just a health insurance company that makes cars on the side," San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill said during a pension presentation at a recent board meeting. "My concern is that the county government is becoming a pension provider that provides government services on the side."

GM's "health insurance company that makes cars on the side" stage didn't end well. I expect that Adam Hill worries that county governments will end up in an equally bad place.

-Mark Roulo