Tuesday, March 15, 2011

More Public Sector Union Abuse, this time from San Francisco

From today's San Francisco Chronicle:

"San Francisco's biggest pension earners receive hefty checks not only from the city's pension fund, but also additional money from the cash-strapped departments in which they worked.

The system allows the retirees, all top brass from the police and fire department, to receive annual payments far above the $195,000 pension cap allowed by the Internal Revenue Service.

The city's retirement fund cannot pay more than that, but it's fairly common for cities and other employers to legally get around the provision. San Francisco does it by passing the extra tab on to the employees' former departments....

For example, the city's No. 1 pension earner, former Police Chief Heather Fong, last year received $195,000 from the regular pension fund plus $69,246.85 from the police department.

The department - which is so broke, it can't afford police academy classes this year or next - will be on the hook for that payment, plus cost-of-living hikes, every year for the rest of Fong's life."

1 comment:

Paul A. Buechler said...

Sounds like a taxpayer ripoff.
Bell, California, and SF have something in common.

http://neighborhoodeffects.mercatus.org/2010/07/23/how-bell-californias-city-council-got-their-pay-raises/

pabuechler