Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Counties group upset about deck chairs

When someone seems inordinately concerned with an inconsequential detail in the face of a major disaster, he is sometimes said to be "arranging deck chairs on the Titanic."

Such is the case with the Kentucky Association of Counties in their response to the new pension reform bill. From The Courier Journal:

"The Kentucky Association of Counties plans to lobby the 2009 legislature to change one aspect of the pension reform bill passed during this summer's special session."

"The new law bans retirees who return to the public sector -- state and local governments and school systems -- from collecting a second pension. But their government employers are still required to contribute a percentage of those workers' pay to the retirement systems."

"Bob Arnold, the association's executive director and chief executive officer, said it's unfair to force governments to make those contributions if employees can't collect any extra benefits when they retire a second time."

What Bob doesn't seem to understand is some combination of higher employee contributions and/or lower benefits has to happen to hold off bankruptcy for the retirement system.

And if he is unhappy now, he will be really upset when we get serious about reform.

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