The retirees face a bleak future: “Central Falls, like many American cities, has not placed its police and firefighters in Social Security. Many have no other benefits to fall back on.”
The inability to meet payments, as is true across the western world, was evident decades ago. The parties refused to think through the consequences of their actions: “The city, just north of Providence, is small and poor, but over the years it has promised police officers and firefighters retirement benefits like those offered in big, rich states like California and New York. These uniformed workers can retire after just 20 years of service, receive free health care in retirement, and qualify for full disability pensions when only partly disabled.”
The previous paragraph reflects poorly on the grand wizards of Central Falls. The Times noted: “Central Falls…filled mostly with immigrant families, struggles on a median household income of less than $33,520 a year…. The typical single-family house… is worth about $130,000.”
Although this was a news story, the Times reporters, Mary Williams Walsh and Abby Goodnough, could not restrain their fury: “It is hard to see how anyone thought such an impoverished tax base could come up with an additional $80 million for retirement benefits. If the city were contributing the recommended amount to the plan each year, it would take 57 percent of local property tax revenue.”
A city neighborhood can come and go in ten years, but a pension lasts twenty. Unions and small municipalities have not thought this through, always assuming the Great Exogenous protects the Sacraments.
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