Link: New report on employee benefits | Philly

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Monday, June 29, 2009

Link: New report on employee benefits

The Philadelphia Research Institute, a project of the Pew Charitable Trust, has released a new report on benefits for municipal employees. The main point: costs are skyrocketing as the city's ability to pay is falling dramatically.

You can read the whole thing by clicking here.

Posted by Ben Waxman @ 10:55 AM Permalink | 2 comments

Comments

Posted 02:59 PM, 06/29/2009

CleanupPhilly

It also looks at some of the proposed solutions, and graphically, literally, shows how Nutter's pension refi/payment delay relies on completely unrealistic assumptions based on past performance. We can't delay payments and just hope that a boom occurs that raises the value of the then still-more underfunded asset magically brings it to par. Additionally, it shows that Philly city employees are not putting in enough for their pension and health care, any way you slice it.

Posted 03:37 PM, 06/29/2009

CleanupPhilly

The city is going to have to put more money into the pension plan, and it doesn't want to. But what is the sense of not collecting overdue property taxes of half a billion when it means that city employees have a pension plan with so little confidence in it that no member of Council wants to rely on it, and race to enter DROP? City employees have to pay more in health and pension costs, but their length of benefit might also be cut, and would be tragic to decrease the post-retirement health benefit from five years to three years because the city won't collect property taxes. $522 million is owed to Philly in overdue property taxes, much of it on valuable property that buyers want while the city concentrates its efforts on the least valuable property that sometimes can't be sold. The rate of delinquency in my tony zip, SWCC, or 19146, is over 1 in 4 owners. That's crazy when it means that the pension could collapse. The solution is for the state to take the pension over and demand fixed payment amounts from the city, which the city can meet if it starts to function like a normal city again and collect the half a billion in overdue property taxes, starting with the areas where comparative sales are highest. The press has to make choices about what they advocate. You can't ignore the tough stories like property tax collection and expect magic money to fall from the sky for decent schools, city services, and pension and health care for city employees.

2 comments

About It's Our Money

Every year, city government spends slightly more than $4 billion. Where does all that money come from? More importantly, where does it go? Are we getting the most bang for our tax buck? “It's Our Money” is a joint project between Philadelphia Daily News and WHYY, funded by the William Penn Foundation, designed to answer these questions.

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It's Our Money's Ben Waxman interviews TWU Local 234 president Willie Brown on why he called the strike when he did, what it's like to be more hated than A-Rod, and what it will take the union to go back on the job. Click here to see the exclusive interview.

FOLLOW THE (LACK OF) MONEY

Philadelphia’s five-year plan includes $300 million in service cuts. Which departments are seeing their budgets slashed, and what are the consequences? Our Follow the (lack of) Money series takes stock of the effects of the budget crisis. This week: Housing Trust Fund.

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Ben Waxman reports and blogs for “It's Our Money.” Before joining “It's Our Money,” he was a regular contributor to the Philadelphia Daily News op-ed page and former contributor to the blog Young Philly Politics. He studied political science at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA.

Doron Taussig is the Project Manager for “It's Our Money.” He is also a graduate student in communications at Temple University. Previously he worked as a Staff Writer and News Editor for the Philadelphia City Paper.

Dave Merrell is the Web Editor for "It's Our Money." He comes to the project from Philly.com, where he is a web producer. Originally from upstate New York, he moved to Philadelphia after graduating from Haverford College with a degree in math and economics.

Anthony Campisi reports and blogs for "It's Our Money." Originally hailing from Central Jersey, he came to Philadelphia while a student at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied intellectual history. He also writes about transportation for PlanPhilly, an innovative urban planning website started by PennPraxis, the consulting arm of the Penn School of Design.