My hometown gets a special corruption article

Proud of my hometown now discovered to be in another pension scandal. HT Pension Tsunami

Fresno City Manager Mark Scott on Wednesday said he will investigate a special city pension program that isn't supposed to hurt the public pocketbook but may be costing taxpayers millions of dollars a year.

Scott, who has been with the city barely a year, said the retirement last week of 50 employees who were participants in the city's Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) sparked his interest in how the complex program works. The program allows older employees to continue working while diverting pension payments to a supplemental retirement fund.

Scott said retirees are getting guaranteed high interest rates on their DROP investment accounts, even though the investments themselves are barely breaking even.

The city's general fund, Scott said, is making up the difference, to the detriment of a City Hall that has reduced services and laid off hundreds of people during a long budget crisis.

"We're losing our shirt," he said. Fresno Bee

Our politicians, with the public sector unions and the Dill Act are taking the fastest track to bankruptcy we can imagine.  Fresno citizens should delay their property tax payments.