Though sharing sympathy for those whose traditional benefits will be cut (and in a better world all retired workers—public and private—would have the same benefit) it is really a terrible example of the kind of financial mismanagement that government seems to specialize in.
In our case, it is mismanagement that directly takes money from the needed maintenance of the Parkway which is falling behind $1.5 million a year in basic funding.
Retiree health benefit will get a hard look
County budget woes may imperil the subsidy
By Ed Fletcher - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, May 17, 2007
Sacramento County supervisors will decide today whether the county can afford to continue to subsidize its former employees' health care -- a benefit that has endured for 27 years, despite rising costs.
But the retirees -- who have been vocal and are expected to jam the supervisors' chambers downtown this afternoon -- must make their case this year under the shadow of a looming $33 million budget deficit.
Since 1980, the county has voted to pay for the benefit on a year-to-year basis. The program pays retirees up to $244 a month for medical expenses and $25 a month for dental care.
The subsidy came under more scrutiny when the workers' pension fund account could no longer pay for it, and the county took money from its general operating fund.
This is the first year the subsidy faces a supervisors' vote as they contemplate cutting a large deficit, said Geoff Davey, the county's chief financial officer. That fact will likely make the board's subsidy decision "more difficult," he said.
County staff members recommend the board discontinue the benefit for employees who retired after June 29, 2003 -- the date the county boosted pension benefits. The shift would affect 14,000 current and former employees.
