Category: Pension

Jerry Sandusky Gets Pension Back

Jerry Sandusky Gets Pension Back
Getting a $58,800 tax-payer guaranteed pension.

Chalk this up under things that will make you throw up but a Commonwealth Court panel just gave back a taxpayer guaranteed pension to convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky.

The State Employees Retirement Board ruled that Sandusky couldn’t get his $4,900 monthly pension because of his conviction. The state judges said he wasn’t a working state employee when he was convicted of molesting kids so they gave it back to him.

You know a whole lot of working people who never shoplifted a candy bar much less molested a child would be real happy with an income of $4,900  a month.

And you know state pension plans are horrifically underfunded and that Gov. Wolf expects you, the working person, to make up for the shortfall to give money to guys like Sandusky and has no intention of of asking people like this to ante up to share the burden.

Hat tip Bob Small

Jerry Sandusky Gets Pension Back

 

John D McGinnis Book Explains Pension Crisis

John D McGinnis Book Explains Pension Crisis John D McGinnis Book Explains Pension Crisis John D McGinnis Book Explains Pension Crisis John D McGinnis Book Explains Pension Crisis
State Rep. John D McGinnis (R-79)

This review of State Rep. John D McGinnis’ (R-79) book detailing Pennsylvania’s scandalous and corrupt pension crisis was submitted by Joe Sterns of First Water Consulting.

By Joe Sterns

Pennsylvania’s state motto is “virtue, liberty, and independence.” Ironically, there is no place less welcoming to those principles today than the gilded hallways of the commonwealth’s capitol.  What began as William Penn’s “holy experiment” has sadly devolved from a beacon of civic virtue and engine of prosperity into one of the most corrupt and economically stagnant states in the union. Penn’s own words would become prophetic: “As governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined, too.”

Whereas the Keystone State’s lawmakers were once altruistic citizen legislators serving only part-time and for limited terms, today they are a frequent subject of criminal prosecutions and pilloried by the media as “hogs” who “slop themselves” with ungodly perks and benefits.  At $84,000 a year, their salary ranks second only to California legislators.  Upon retiring in 2010, the Pennsylvania Senate Minority Leader received a lump sum pension payment of $331,025 and had amassed an annual retirement benefit of $138,958.

Harrisburg today is best defined by what the watchdog group Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania calls the “Iron Triangle”, which comprises career politicians hell-bent on re-election, bureaucrats, and the special-interest groups to whom the politicians slavishly pander for campaign money by ladling out taxpayer dollars. The Iron Triangle’s scandals of the last three decades are too numerous to mention, but its devastating impact on Pennsylvania’s economy can be summed up with a few bullet points:

·         Pennsylvania’s per-capita burden of state and local debt is 2nd highest in the nation.
·         Pennsylvania produced the second fewest number of jobs from 1970 to 2009.
·         Pennsylvania had the fifth lowest personal income growth from 1970 – 2009.

In 2012, John McGinnis, Ph.D., decided he could no longer watch from the sidelines as Harrisburg’s political class continued to debase itself and put the American Dream ever further out of reach.  A professor of finance at Penn State-Altoona and chartered financial analyst, Dr. McGinnis defeated longtime state Representative Rick Geist in the Republican primary election and went on to win the general election.

Despite his keen intellect and acumen, Dr. McGinnis was—not surprisingly—greeted coldly by the career politicians in Harrisburg, as they denied his request to serve on the two legislative committees—Education and Finance—most befitting his rare skill set.  He’d earned his place in the House of Representatives by beating one of their prized “old bulls” – and on a platform of fiscal restraint and forswearing the trappings of office, no less. They were more concerned with letting him know that they didn’t like how he got there than harnessing his brainpower.
Nonetheless, Dr. McGinnis immediately went to work on his own to address the most ominous of clouds hovering over the commonwealth: public pension debt.

This book is important for two reasons: foremost, it exposes—with irrefutable data and plainspoken language—the true amount of unfunded liabilities (debt) in the commonwealth’s two public pension plans—SERS and PSERS—which the Iron Triangle has kept hidden from taxpayers and the media.  Dr. McGinnis details what’s necessary to ameliorate catastrophic fiscal repercussions from years, if not decades, of bad policies and put Pennsylvania on firm footing for the long term.

Second, the book offers a rare and crucial insider’s perspective of the Iron Triangle, such that taxpayers will better understand the mindset of career politicians and how their insatiable chase for re-election is ultimately why Pennsylvania finds itself well over $100 billion in the hole.

Hopefully, enough taxpayers and journalists will read this book that by the time Dr. McGinnis’ self-restricted tenure in the legislature comes to its untimely end, the collective outcry for fiscal responsibility will be deafening and what he is fighting for now will come to fruition—before it’s too late.

The book can be found online here.

John D McGinnis Book Explains Pension Crisis

Harrisburg Pension Crisis

By Rich Shuker Harrisburg Pension Crisis

The rate of “success” Harrisburg is having with the budget, coupled with the incompetence of our legislators who work for the taxpayers of Pennsylvania raises the possibility that the pension crisis will never be fixed.

Commenting about the pensions, House Majority Leader David Reed said, “I’m not sure where we go from here,” after a failed veto override attempt!

According to one newspaper article, House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny County believes a piecemeal override of a vetoed bill is unconstitutional.

In that same article we find telling quotes from other officials:

“While the governor is looking at their proposal, they (House leaders) are playing games,” said Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan.

“Accepting the GOP’s latest offer would be a home run for both sides,” said Senate Majority Whip John Gordner, R-Berwick.

Does he mean the political parties or the taxpayers?

In 2006, Auditor General Jack Wagner compiled an in-depth audit on the PSERS and the SERS, He noted that the pension crisis was created by the legislators’ actions in 2001 where they increased the pension benefits of all state workers and teachers. We’re coming up on 15 years since, and although several attempts have been made to patch the problem, the root cause has never been addressed.

Jack Wagner gave recommendations and predicted a fiscal crisis in 2012 or 2013 if corrective measures were not taken. The legislature did not heed his warning and today Pennsylvania finds itself with massive unfunded liabilities.

Since 2001 our legislators have increased the Pennsylvania General Fund by 100% and our School Taxes have gone up 116%. Also, taxpayers have received from Harrisburg several blessings:

We are the 5th most corrupt state;
5th highest state in foreclosures;
1st in gas and corporate taxes;
Thanks to the lack of legislative oversight, the PSERS lost $15.8 billion since 06/2007, and the SERS lost $8.3 billion.

Yes, Harrisburg has become one of the largest casinos in the country, gambling with the taxpayers’ money and obviously losing, because they always need more.

Finally, the taxpayers have two legislators standing up for them. They have proposed bills to fix this financial disaster and stop some of the theft of the taxpayer’s money. Republican John McGinnis who has a Ph.D. in Finance, and Democrat Thomas Caltagirone have proposed three pieces of legislation between them with one being jointly introduced.

On March 26, 2015, Tom Caltagirone introduced HB 845 on a Public Pensions Code of Ethics. Since March, only eight cosponsors have signed onto the legislation. The bill was referred to Committee on State Government. That’s where it sits, thanks to weak leadership.

On July 9, 2015, John McGinnis, and Caltagirone introduced HB 1400 to improve the management standards for SERS and PSERS. The bill has fifteen cosponsors and was referred to Committee on State Government, where it languishes.

On May 17, 2015, John McGinnis Proposed HB 900, Subject: Repayment of Pension Debt; received 21 cosponsors, was referred to Committee on State Government.

So what can a taxpayer, living in the 5th most corrupt state in America, do?

The first step is getting involved, finding the truth and confronting the legislators about the issues that matter to you. The taxpayers are in luck. Representatives Tom Caltagirone and John McGinnis will be presenting to the Lehigh Valley Project 9-12 Tea Party Group 7 p.m., Oct. 2  at the Charles Chrin Community Center in Easton.

Their presentation will be an excellent opportunity to learn about Pennsylvania’s pension issues and what lawmakers must do to fix the problems.
Mr. Shuker is a financial consultant who became politically active in response to protecting his clients’ financial well-being from legislation that threatens their security.

Harrisburg Pension Crisis

Tea Party Pro Labor

A claim  shouted by those whose luxurious lifestyles are based on government — either directly or via special privileges such as mandated dues –  is that  Tea Party types are anti-labor and anti-union. Tea Party Pro Labor

They are not. They are anti-hypocrisy and anti-corruption. Most believe that collective bargaining is a very good thing in many circumstances and that labor laws have made our lives generally better.

When they hear but silence, however, from organized labor when American workers are made to train their foreign replacements;  when they see the hipster doofus with the Foxconn-made iPhone demanding the hard-working pizza shop owner  pay his staff wages he can’t afford; and when they are confronted by those with $477,591 pensions demanding that working families cough up another 1K to keep their pensions funded, they fully understand what the union leaders and their progressive allies are about, and fully understand that they must be fought.

Anyway, here is the latest illustration of the character of those imposing “the progressive” agenda upon us. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers is among the big-government special interest groups fighting the mild state pension reforms being pushed by Republicans in Harrisburg. The reforms would  stop existing employees from spiking their their average salaries and put new state workers and public school teachers in a 401K type program.

What kind of pension plan does the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers offer its employees? That’s exactly right LOL. Can you spell “hypocrisy”? I knew you could.

That those proclaiming themselves “progressives” are thoughtless people who don’t care a whit about anyone but themselves is something to take to the bank.

Tea Party Pro Labor

 

 

Bad Pension Legislation Lives

By Leo KnepperBad Pension Legislation Lives

Bad legislation never dies in Harrisburg, and it doesn’t even slowly fade away.

So the Tobash plan for changing the design of pensions for certain classes of new employees is getting another push. The Tobash plan, HB 1499, is sponsored by Rep. Mike Tobash (R-Schuylkill), but it was originally the idea of folks at the Public Employees Retirement Commission (PERC). It is their duty with respect to the state pensions systems “to assure their actuarial viability through a review of any proposed legislative changes in those plans.”

When reviewing HB 900 this past June, which really does “stop the bleeding” and would eliminate the unfunded liabilities of SERS and PSERS over 20 years, PERC decided that it was more important for legislators to consider other budget priorities. In other words, the institution, whose sole purpose is to assure the soundness of public employee pensions, instructed legislators in PERC’s review of HB 900 to continue their dreadful and harmful 12 year policy of diverting funds from pensions to other purposes.

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that four of the nine members of PERC’s board are legislators, and one of them is Rep. Tobash. The other five members are gubernatorial appointees. What incentive do they have to assure that pensions will be adequately funded when the last three governors, including the current one, wanted no such thing?

The Tobash plan was introduced last year as an amendment to HB 1353. At that time, it set up a “stacked” retirement benefit system. The first $50,000 in state employee pay is eligible for a traditional pension; beyond that there is a 401(k) style plan. It is worth noting that the average state employee salary was $52,655 for 2014. In other words, the Tobash plan as introduced last year would have had impacted very few future employees. According to actuarial analysis done last year, 98.8% of the “savings” projected under the Tobash plan is 15 years or farther into the future, which is a pretty big problem since SERS and PSERS are on course to be bankrupt in 15 years.

While some of these same criticisms certainly apply to SB1, the Senate’s pension reform plan, Tobash’s plan goes completely in the wrong direction. Rather than addressing the unfunded liabilities and pension costs of current employees, the Tobash plan would merely provide lawmakers the ability to say they passed pension reform without actually addressing anything.

Politicians are very sensitive to current and near-term costs because the next election is less than 2 to 4 years away. But the massive harm heading toward the commonwealth in less than a generation-well, that’s someone else’s problem apparently.

And so, another Rube Goldberg device will be trotted out, debated, lobbied, perhaps even voted on (and if passed, vetoed) and all the while the unfunded liability which impends doom for the future of the commonwealth remains unaddressed. It’s simply the politicians’ usual play: bait and switch-promise changes later and call that savings. Then use the phony savings to justify continuing to underfund the pensions and divert monies to other places in the budget.

The priority is always less pension funding today, and when tomorrow comes, the priority will be less funding then too. It might get politicians re-elected, but it’s not exactly anyone’s definition of statesmanship.

Mr. Knepper is with Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania.

Bad Pension Legislation Lives

Pension Cost Rising 800 Percent

By Sen. Scott Wagner Pension Cost Rising 800 Percent

The purpose of this column is to share with you why your school taxes keep going up.

The answer is: INCREASING PENSION COSTS.

The growing pension costs of the ten public school districts that are located within the 28th PA Senate District in York County are staggering.

On June 30th the PA House and Senate passed pension reform legislation and forwarded it to Governor Wolf – Governor Wolf vetoed the pension reform bill within days.

The elephant in the room continues to be the MASSIVE pension crisis facing Pennsylvania taxpayers.

I was recently forwarded the pension information contained in this email for the school districts in the 28th PA Senate District.

Listed below are charts showing the pension costs from the 2008-09 to 2019-20, a span of twelve years.

The first chart shows each school district’s actual pension costs for the 2008-09 year and the second chart shows the projected cost for the 2019-20 year of each school district.

The final chart shows the percentage increase from 2008-09 year to the 2019-20 year.

As you review the charts, please note that for the 2008-09 year the total pension costs for the ten schools districts WERE $12,535,778  , the projected costs for the 2019-20 year WILL INCREASE to $103,057,888  , an INCREASE over a twelve year period of $90,522,110   per year.

Pension Cost Rising 800 Percent

Pension Cost Rising 800 Percent

Pension Cost Rising 800 Percent

The information that I am sharing with you is for ten school districts in York, Pennsylvania – there are over 500 school districts in Pennsylvania.

Please review the charts – I am sure you will agree that the Pennsylvania pension system is a ticking time bomb.

Pennsylvania must join the rest of the real world and go to a 401K retirement system.

History is history – the past is the past – NOW is the time to correct this problem.

By the way, in this email I only talk about school district pensions – there are many other departments affected by this pension mess – State Police, Penn Dot, Judges, State Universities, and workers from all other state agencies.

Over the next 30 days I will be meeting with various people in the private sector – not Harrisburg insiders – to discuss new ideas and options for a plan to move forward to diffuse the ticking time bomb.

To review the year by year details for each school district please click here.

I also want to report that Senate and House leadership have been meeting with the Governor over the 2015 – 2016 budget.

As I have continued to report, the solution cannot be higher taxes and more spending.

In the event that a budget deal would be reached, the Senate is on a 6-hour call – we would promptly reconvene to vote on the budget.

Addendum:  A reader who follows my emails closely sent the following response:
“Scott–You are close to making a key point that appears to be missing in the debate about Wolf’s budget proposal.  He wants to increase the state’s contribution to education.  It sounds nice, like he is trying to help kids.  But the fact is all of that additional funding and more will be poured into the black hole of pension costs.  If he really wanted more for education and to relieve property taxes, he would start by repealing prevailing wage and tackle pension reform.  But his budget shows what he really cares about….not schools and students, but rather the unions and their constituents.”

Great points about where the money is really going.

Sen. Walker represents the 28th District in the Pennsylvania Senate.

Pension Cost Rising 800 Percent

Tom Wolf Fiddles While Pensions Explode

By Scott WagnerTom Wolf Fiddles While Pensions Explode
I am writing to respond to the June 25 Op-ed from Frances Wolf, first lady of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

It’s unfortunate that nearly a half-year after his inauguration Gov. Tom Wolf remains in campaign mode, crisscrossing the state with Mrs. Wolf and others making absurd claims about education spending.

Mrs. Wolf writes that King Elementary school, part of the Lancaster Area School District, has a library filled with 30-year-old textbooks and Mrs. Wolf is quoted saying, “They don’t have the funds to replace them with updated versions.” She leads readers to believe it’s the result of “devastating cuts” in state funding.

A quick check by my office reveals that the school district is sitting on a funding balance of $15.24 million.

And while the governor promises a windfall of new spending to help schools, he ducks action on the number one cause of school cutbacks and property tax hikes: skyrocketing pension costs.

That same school district the First Lady visited will see their pension costs go up by $4 million in 2016, which alone wipes out all of the promised new funding from the governor.

The fact is, Pennsylvania spends more on schools today than it ever has in the history of the Commonwealth, $27.4 billion.

That’s more than all but five other states in the nation.  Pennsylvania is ranked 12th in per-pupil spending, at around $15,000, while the U.S. average is $11,300.

Obviously, if commitment to education was measured by dollars spent, Pennsylvania is among the most committed states in America.

But, if we measure that commitment by reining in the skyrocketing costs that are placing a crushing burden on schools, such as pensions and unchecked union dominance, then we have work to do.

Wolf wants to raise taxes – personal income taxes, sales taxes and impose a natural gas extraction tax. But in seeking his tax hikes, he should get off the campaign trail and make an honest appeal for his priorities.

State Sen. Scott Wagner, a Republican, represents the York County-based 28th District.

Tom Wolf Fiddles While Pensions Explode

Wolf Launches Stealth Attack Against Adolph

Wolf Launches Stealth Attack Against Adolph
State Rep. Bill Adolph

A flyer has been mailed to homes in Pennsylvania’s 165th Legislative District accusing its representative,  Bill Adolph, of all sorts of vile things like keeping $183,650 i.e. chump change from the Marple Newtown School District and keeping $268,807 from the Springfield School District.

Yes it is chump change.  The Marple Newtown money would not  cover the cost for a year of some Delaware County public school superintendent pensions. And the Springfield money could only keep former Penn State Vice President Gary Schultz living in the style to which he has become accustomed through  late September.

Wolf Launches Stealth Attack Against Adolph
Gov Tom Wolf, trying not to get his hands dirty

The flyer  was produced by America Works USA which is a non-profit group that works in the shadows of the Democratic Governors Association to keep the fingerprints of people like Tom Wolf off the dirty deeds.

Gov. Wolf is trying to pressure Rep. Adolph to help him in his plan to put a crushing tax burden on the gas drillers responsible for whatever economic sunshine that has come Pennsylvania’s way over the last seven years.

All, of course, without recognizing that the state has a major spending problem, not a revenue one. Pennsylvania already taxes the drillers 2.7 percent — on top of salaries, sales and the other usual economic activity that occurs during production. Increasing the taxes will either mean more cost passed onto the consumer — how much was your electric bill last month? — or curtailing production.

Adolph is working hard to fix the pension crisis and recognizes the burden Wolf’s tax plan will place on the citizens of his district. He needs their support.

Addendum: The $268,807 Adolph allegedly kept from the Springfield School District would not be a blip on the radar concerning lessening the impact of   the recently approved $140 million new Springfield High School. On the other hand, repealing the state’s prevailing wage law could see a 20-percent cost drop i.e. $28 million i.e. not chump change  in the price. If you are inclined to contact Adolph about something contact him about that. You would actually see your standard of living improve — or at least not drop so much — if that law was gone.

Note the matter of the Springfield High School now goes to the township for approval of construction. Springfield School Director Bruce Lord said at the final Town Hall, March 19, the process of construction will take years not months.

Wolf Launches Stealth Attack Against Adolph

SB1 Pension Reform Explained

Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania has a pretty good explanation of SB1, the pension reform bill passed, yesterday, May 13, by the Pennsylvania Senate. SB1 Pension Reform Explained

CAP notes the bill calls for new state workers and public school teachers to enroll in a defined contribution type plan similar to the 401Ks most of us have. They also have an option to enroll in a cash balance plan which are like savings accounts with a interest rate equal to a 30-year US Treasury Bond with a cap at 4 percent.

New employees would not be eligible for the existing defined benefit plan.

Existing employees would be prevented from spiking their average salary during their final years to hike their pension by maxing out on overtime. It would also change how future benefits are calculated for employees in the current system and require increased employee contributions.

It is estimated that the reforms would save the taxpayers $1.7 billion over the next four years and a total savings of $18 billion.

The bill is now before the House.

Kudos but why wasn’t this done four years ago when the GOP ran everything? Expect our Democrat governor, Tom Wolf, to do what he can to gut it as the unions basically own him.

And, really, the morality of someone making a $477,591 public pension must be addressed before asking the working class and those down on the luck to bail out the system.

Hat tip Lisa Esler.

SB1 Pension Reform Explained

Senate Passes Pension Reform

The Pennsylvania Senate, this afternoon, May 13, passed SB 1 which would change the  plans for  those in the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) and State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) into defined contribution ones akin to the 401Ks most of us have. Senate Passes Pension Reform

The vote was 28-19 with Stewart Greenleaf of the 12th District being the only Republican voting nay. Dominic Pileggi of the 9th District, who it was surmised would vote against the bill, wound up supporting it.

Not voting were Pat Browne (R-16) and Anthony Williams (D-8).

The bill was introduced May 8 with Jake Corman (R-34) as the prime sponsor.

It now goes to the House.

The reason for the need is explained in the bill’s first section:

Pennsylvania’s retirement systems, SERS for State employees and PSERS for school employees, together have an unfunded liability of $60,121,184,000. The level of payment by the Commonwealth and school districts required to annually address these amounts is staggering, particularly when other state revenues are reduced due to a struggling economy. The current condition of Pennsylvania’s unfunded system combined with the State’s structural deficit threaten the financial well-being of current and future public employees.

In order to fully fund State pensions systems, economists estimate that contributions will continue to require a significant portion of state revenues. In fiscal year 2015-2016, pension expenditures are expected to exceed $4,800,000,000 and $7,300,000,000 by 2025.

The tax increases that would be required to address increasing pension obligations would place a heavy burden on the citizens of this Commonwealth and hamper the ability to provide them with services vital to the public’s health, safety and welfare. Therefore, it is imperative that the Commonwealth adopt reforms that will maintain the financial health of the Commonwealth and its school districts.

Therefore, the reforms contained in this legislation are intended to use resources judiciously and enable the Commonwealth to provide retirement security for Commonwealth and school employees while reducing the burden on taxpayers.

The reforms of the retirement benefits of Commonwealth and school district employees contained in this act are prospective and will not impact benefits earned from services rendered prior to the effective date of this act

Senate Passes Pension Reform