TSA Creator Says Dismantle, Privatize the Agency

From: HUMAN EVENTS

"Pensions can't be as rich as they have been,'' said Hollywood Commissioner Beam Furr. "When you are in the public service, you shouldn't be expecting to become rich. You shouldn't be expecting to become suddenly a millionaire, and that has happened."

But employees like Khawly, who said he earned only a $16,000 salary when he began his tenure with the Miami Fire Department around 1980, are proud and protective of what they have earned through hard and sometimes dangerous work.

"I take offense to it when someone makes those kind of comments," said Khawly. "I'm out risking my life while everyone is sleeping in bed with their wives."

Jeff Marano, senior vice president of the Broward Police Benevolent Association, said city officials and administrators mismanaged taxpayers' finances during the past decade's property-tax boom and now are scapegoating employees.

"The conspiracy of the day is that we're the villains -- public employees are the villains," Marano said. "But that's not the reality.''

The average retiree doesn't come close to raking in a six-figure pension. But with negotiated formulas that have allowed employees to factor into their pensions overtime, unused vacation and sick days, municipal employees have been retiring far younger and more comfortably than those in private industry.

So young that they can enjoy a second act. Donald De Lucca, the former Miami Beach police chief who retired in his 40s and cashes a $182,000-and-growing yearly retirement benefit, recently was hired as chief of the Golden Beach department at $100,000 a year, according to the town manager.

Pension analysts say city officials and unions both bear responsibility for the current excesses.

"Unions didn't do it, and cities didn't do it alone," said Fred Nesbitt, retired executive director of the National Conference of Public Employee Retirement Systems. "They did it together.''

State pensions vs. city pensions

Although municipal pensions are more generous than those of state employees and teachers, historically there was a key difference. State workers didn't contribute to their pensions, while city employees generally did -- as much as 12 percent of their pay.

While amassing her multimillion-dollar windfall, Kindle paid $119,823 into the pension fund during 25 years on the job.

The contrast between state and city pensions was altered this past summer when new legislation required public employees enrolled in the Florida Retirement System to contribute 3 percent of their pay toward retirement.

While city workers often pay considerably more, those contributions don't come close to covering current costs.

Pension funds are run by trustees helped by consultants who project returns on investment, life expectancies, salary increases and other variables that affect a plan's financial health.

Trustees invest the overall pot -- but cities take the hit if those investments go bad.

In the early 2000s, it wasn't a problem. Investments did so well that some cities barely paid anything into their pension funds. Miami Beach didn't pay a cent into its general employees plan during 2001, 2002 and 2003.

But investment returns have since fallen far short of expectations. The 2008 stock market crash blew a gaping hole in those pension portfolios.