Friday, January 27, 2017

Jerry Brown leads the Little Browns to bankruptcy

El Monte's mayor wants to end bonus pensions costing millions but his hands are tied he mayor of El Monte, a cash-strapped San Gabriel Valley city with many retired employees drawing two pensions, says there’s “no rational justification” for the extraordinary, taxpayer-funded generosity. 
 But at the same time, Mayor Andre Quintero says there’s nothing city officials can do about the situation in the near term. The benefit is written into the city’s collective bargaining agreements, so it could be eliminated only through negotiations with unions. 
 Another obstacle: California courts have long held that public employees are guaranteed the retirement benefits in place on the day they were hired. El Monte’s predicament reflects the deep difficulty of reining in public pension costs. The city’s retirement burden is among the heaviest of any municipality in California, a recent Times investigation found.
Jerry imposed union rule, the little browns agreed, now the browns are poor and bankrupt. 

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