Mayoral Candidate Jim Rowland was the first to argue against the hefty Mast Pensions.
Now Mike Burke is weighing in . . . What I like about today's presser is that he puts the arguement in a historical context and defines the situation that lead to this disaster . . . Mainly: Ineffective Kansas City political leadership. Even better, he offers a plan to move forward.
His statement is certainly worth a look.
Check it:
Policy Not Politics
(KANSAS CITY, MO.) – Today, Kansas City Mayoral Candidate Mike Burke issued a formal
statement on Kansas City’s pending vote to approve retroactive pensions for former MAST employees who are now employees of the Kansas City Fire Department.
“A year ago, the City Council hurriedly voted on one of the most sweeping changes in Kansas City public safety in recent history when it voted to merge the ambulance service MAST into the Kansas City Fire Department (KCFD). This was done in such a hasty fashion that the Council did not hold a hearing on the measure prior to the vote. In fact, after the ordinance was approved 10-2, the City Council retroactively held a hearing to merely validate their decision. Why the rush? The answer is simply that it wasn’t about policy but it was about politics,” said Mike Burke.
“A substantial issue tabled a year ago concerned the impact of merging the former MAST employees into the existing city pension system. Now the Council is confronting the impact of that decision and it comes with a $40 million price tag, which contrasts greatly to the initial estimate of $17 million,” Burke continued.
“Currently, the City’s four employee pension systems are all “under water”, meaning the long-term obligations exceed the assets available to meet those obligations. At the time, the merging of the ambulance service into the KCFD would have been a good opportunity to do a comprehensive study on all of the City’s long-term pension obligations and how they can be met responsibly without bankrupting the City. It would’ve served as an opportunity to look at different benefit structures for new employees and calculate the actual cost of funding existing obligations, but that didn’t happen,” Burke continued.
“I urge the City Council to delay a decision on new pension obligations until a comprehensive study can be completed. Why rush a decision that will place at least $40 million more on the City’s already stressed-out checkbook,” Burke continued.
“As your next Mayor, my approach to developing a comprehensive employee benefit system would start with convening a blue ribbon panel made up of representatives of current retirees, labor representatives and experts in pension administration to do a complete review of our pension systems and make recommendations for the future. Decisions like these cannot be made within a bubble but must include others so actions are more inclusive and transparent. This is one area where policy should prevail over politics,” said Mike Burke.
###
What does Burke think about unsolicited bulk e-mail for political campaigns?
ReplyDeleteLouie Wright promised the former MAST employees a defined benefit pension. Not a 457 or any other, but a defined. He, and the dumb ass City Council had better vote FOR this because, what is the city going to do when all of a sudden the EMS goes on strike because of no pension? Do NOT send this back for further review but PASS it today! They made their bed, now fucking lie in it!
ReplyDeleteThe power is in your mouse pad to 'opt out' of emails.
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:26 am -- what if everyone within 6 degrees of separation of you, if every good cause, added you to their mailing list? "Confirmed opt-in" is the standard.
ReplyDeletePension funds all over the country are insolvent. The city needs to get it right now.Employee 401 self funded pension plan.Govt pension plans are a rip-off to taxpayers.Funkhouser is playing politics for a very desperate re-election attempt.
ReplyDelete10:33 could not agree more. However, those of us on the ambulance who have worked FOR the taxpayers and citizens of KC for over 30 years, were PROMISED, not just by Louie Wright but the City Council, a defined benefit pension WITH our full years of service. They did this to persuade us to go along with this merger and now they are not able to come through with it? Fewer than 10 people will be able to take advantage of the ability to retire in the next year. Fewer than 10. More than 200 of the employees have less than 10 years on an ambulance and are very young. Many of them will need to work at least 20 more years, contributing to the pension, before they are able to retire. The remaining people must work anywhere from 4 to 15 more years, all the while making contributions, before they can retire. So, it needs to be passed today!
ReplyDelete10:33 could not agree more. However, those of us on the ambulance who have worked FOR the taxpayers and citizens of KC for over 30 years, were PROMISED, not just by Louie Wright but the City Council, a defined benefit pension WITH our full years of service. They did this to persuade us to go along with this merger and now they are not able to come through with it? Fewer than 10 people will be able to take advantage of the ability to retire in the next year. Fewer than 10. More than 200 of the employees have less than 10 years on an ambulance and are very young. Many of them will need to work at least 20 more years, contributing to the pension, before they are able to retire. The remaining people must work anywhere from 4 to 15 more years, all the while making contributions, before they can retire. So, it needs to be passed today!
ReplyDeleteCan the Burke campaign just start putting the names of the interest in little letters under Burke's name so we can know who is really running for Mayor?
ReplyDeleteFunk wins!
ReplyDeleteSo he's for the delaying of a pension system and a panel of bureaucrats to evaluate whether to have a pension system?
ReplyDeleteThis guy is boring.
Yeah, this would matter a lot more if he had done it first. Instead, he's just copying exactly what Rowland said yesterday.
ReplyDeleteWhether you agree with it or not, innovative thinking is clearly not Burke's strong suit.
Nice hearing from the Glorioso office. I thought you were way too busy today cooking maps.
ReplyDeleteDid former MAST employees have a pension plan before? We have paid into our own pension plan since the beginning out of our own pocket. Whether or not you had a plan is not my concern. You need to pay for your own retirement plan, not the tax payers.
ReplyDeletePensions need to stop TODAY for all KCFD. If you have over 20?(pick your number) years of experience, lock in a fixed benefit and then move into a 401K type plan. Beyond that, move everything into individual 401K's or 529B's like the rest of the real world. This is a system that is crashing and will either bankrupt the workers or destroy the city, which will eventually bankrupt the workers. Times have changed and the unions need to accept that.
ReplyDelete