During the recent Toledo city budget hearings and 3/4% payroll income tax renewal vote, there was a lot of discussion about the costs of benefits paid by the city per its union contracts - specifically, the entire 'pick up' of the employee portion of the pensions.
Fellow Liberty's Asylum blogger Warner Todd Huston adds to the discussion in his commentary about the California city of Vallejo.
I can't help but wonder if Toledo will be faced with a similar scenario in the future.
Friday, April 25, 2008
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3 comments:
Maggie,
Just finished "A Time for Truth", by William E Simon. Mr. Simon, who was Treasury Secretary under Ford, points directly at this situation as one of the main causes of New York City's problems 35 years ago. Their leaders, not unlike ours, were unwilling and unable to reverse this trend even when they recognized it.
What's that old saying - "Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
Toledo should hope it's problems are only as bad as Vallejo's. I'm seeing Toledo as being more on par with Detroit.
The city might have to just go the route as a lot of companies have done and do away with pensions and have employees contribute to their own retirement accounts.
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