Do as I Say

Florida Retirement System: Gov. Rick Scott wants employees to contribute to their pensions - OrlandoSentinel.com Scott wants public employees to contribute to pensions Gov. Rick Scott released his plan Tuesday to cut costs in the state's pension fund by requiring all public employees ? including teachers, police officers, current state workers and other government employees ? to contribute 5 percent of their salary.

"We must bring Florida in line with the private sector and nearly every other state in the country by requiring government workers to contribute towards their own retirement," Scott said in an announcement.

The employee contribution would apply to the more than 650,000 government workers, ranging from firefighters and judges to clerks and cafeteria workers, who are covered by the Florida Retirement System.....Scott plans to unveil his entire state budget plan at a tea party event Monday in Eustis, a small central Florida town. the perfect venue for a criminal thug governor.

That proposal actually makes some sense. We have to make cuts.

Though I would like to see people be able to control those savings, not have it added to the state slush fund.

Yes.

Because I think we need to make a lot of changes and cut many benefits (some more than others - aka politicians) to make the budgets work.

From what I am reading, after this proposal, public employees in Florida still have a cushier pension plan than many other states and most of the private sector.

Florida is the ONLY state where public employees do not contribute to their pensions and it's the 4th largest system in the country.

The taxpayers have been picking up the tab for the last 30 years and contributing 9 to 22 percent of public workers salaries. This proposal asks you to pay for 5%.

I know this sounds unsympathetic, but times are tough and this system post-reform is still going to far better than most people have.

Workers are currently afforded the option of joining a defined benefit plan with benefits accruing after five years. Florida is one of the only states in the nation that does not require some form of employee contribution to state pension plans.

Legislators have warned that employee contributions to their plans were likely to be part of any pension reform package, but other parts of Scott?s plan, like ending the Deferred Retirement Option Program, or DROP, reducing the annual service credit and phasing out the cost of living adjustment, have not been a central part of pension talks in committees.

Scott?s plan would close the DROP to all employees on or after July 1. The DROP program has come under biting criticism in recent years as some employees used it to ?double dip,? or receive a pension benefit and a salary at the same time.

This is a tricky situation because there are different types of state run pension plans, some of which are more equal to the private sector than others.

Bob's grandiose proclamations obscure the important details.

I'd like to see a comparison of state employee pay (including base pay, benefit costs, and future pension payments and benefits based on expected payout time periods) broken down by our state's different pension plans compared with payment and benefit plans available in similar positions in the private sector.

Bob, have you been double dippin'? :roll:

read: took low paying jobs for the benefits. Florida's pension fund is in good shape. if you want to take 5 percent for the pension fund, make up for the 5 years with no raises and level the playing field. the workers are not the pariahs here. these proposals are coming from a corporate thief who spent 70 plus million dollars of his own money to get his jollies destroying public education.

read: took low paying jobs for the benefits. Florida's pension fund is in good shape. if you want to take 5 percent for the pension fund, make up for the 5 years with no raises and level the playing field. the workers are not the pariahs here. these proposals are coming from a corporate thief who spent 70 plus million dollars of his own money to get his jollies destroying public education.

His campaign spent $62.3 million, and Scott's political action committee, Let's Get to Work, chipped in another $17 million.



Scott loaned his campaign $60.3 million, and expenditure reports show he repaid himself $65,474 on Monday

Alex Sink, Scott's opponent in the general election, spent $11.4 million. That number includes money spent from her campaign account, and a political action committee.

The outcome in the race: Scott 48.9 percent and Sink 47.7 percent

read: took low paying jobs for the benefits. Florida's pension fund is in good shape. if you want to take 5 percent for the pension fund, make up for the 5 years with no raises and level the playing field. the workers are not the pariahs here. these proposals are coming from a corporate thief who spent 70 plus million dollars of his own money to get his jollies destroying public education.

I find it fascinating that he spent this much of his own money and Alex Sink only spent $11 million; and yet, the margin between their votes is minimal:Report: Scott campaign spent $79M; Jacksonville consultant paid $254K | jacksonville.com