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Because of past local governments failure to collective bargain, they are directly responsible for the economic mess we are in when it comes to union benefits. Here in Lake Worth, city Manager Susan Stanton stands strong in her goal to reduce benefits that would be more in line with our ability to pay. She has 4 other commissioners standing beside her: McVoy, Golden, Mulvehill and Mayor Varela. They have the common sense to understand that we can not continue to head in the same direction that all past spineless commissions have gone--failure to bargain thus giving away the farm.
Pension Boards usually consist of the Mayor, a couple of people in the union and one resident volunteer. They are totally responsible for the Funds and the financial health of those funds but know that any loss will be guaranteed by the local government, unlike a corporate 401k plan where you are totally responsible for choosing where you invest your money and bear the loss and enjoy the gain.
The House Government Operations Subcommitee unveiled its "local pension plan" which simply states that under the new proposal (GVOPS 11-17), local governments would be able to use additional proceeds from insurance premium taxes to pay for unfunded liabilities within their pension plans. They came up with the plan in order to replenish pension plans that have been hammered because of the economy.
Lake Worth has $50 million plus in unfunded benefits that it must pay, somehow, someway. The Unions are scared that with this new plan, local governments might have more control. Let's hope so.
Even the dreaded Florida League of Cities is For GVOPS 11-17.
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Unions get all sorts of benefits:
A percentage of the State insurance fund going towards their pensions;
social security retirement benefit;
and pension plans paid for by local governments. All of these are funded by the taxpayer.
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