Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Pa.'s ticking time bomb

We spent a lot of time and effort over the last few days covering the tragedy in Norwood, trying to answer the questions of how this could happen, and hoping to be part of the solution so that it does not happen again.

It would be easy to overlook other important stories that we were covering.

One in particular.

You can read about it here.

It was Alex Rose’s report on the looming public pension crisis in the state, and the devastating effect it could have on local school and municipal budgets.

I refer to it as a “ticking time bomb.” I’m not the only one. A lot of people are saying the situation is dire, that it could literally bankrupt the state.

It’s amazing to me that given the gravity of the situation, you don’t hear much about it coming from Harrisburg.

I’ve talked to a couple of candidates running for the post of lieutenant governor. They are very aware of the problem, and what it means to the citizens of this state.

One pol, who said he did not want to say it publicly, flatly told me there are two choices to solve this problem: A massive tax hike, or informing public employees they likely will not get the entire benefit due them.

And then changing the rules for future retirees.

It’s not pretty.

And it’s not going away.

1 Comments:

Anonymous T. Thomas said...

The decision made in the past not to have the "state" or school district" pay their fare share was a bad decision. They did not pay the "employers" share into the fund because the stock market was doing well with the invested funds. Now that the funds are not getting the benefits from the stock market it is time for the employer to pay up. If they had paid their share each year, there would not be a problem. The retired state workers and teachers should not have to shoulder the burden for the state.

March 4, 2010 11:24 AM 

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