Out Of Service: Milwaukee Budget Cuts Hit Bus Lines -- And Keep Residents From Jobs

[wardd]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/milwaukee-budget-cuts_n_844551.html

more cuts!!!!!!!

who needs public transportation

[Hot Air]

From the story...
"And the county government decided to share the wealth. During two sessions, in late 2000 and early 2001, the county Board of Supervisors approved a hike to pension benefits for public workers. The package included an increase in the pension multiplier, which is used to determine the percentage of final average salary that an employee, upon retirement, gets as an annual pension payment. The deal applied to all categories of county employees, including the elected officials who had approved it.
"They rolled out the retirement package to us, which far exceeded anything we had proposed," said Richard Abelson, executive director of District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a public sector union that represents more than two-thirds of county workers here. "It was a bad deal. It was a bad deal for taxpayers. It was a bad deal for union members. The impact it would have on the budget in the future was dramatic."
But excluding special lump-sum payments, retirees' pensions are not particularly rich. In 2009, the average annual pension payout was less than $19,000, according to county records.
Rather, the pension fund (http://county.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/cntyHR/PDFdocs/FINAL_in_Page_Order_2009_MC_Annual_Rep.pdf) has been victim to the same economic forces that are eroding municipal finances nationwide. When the financial crisis struck, these relatively modest benefits suddenly required an outsized contribution from taxpayers -- money that the government otherwise would spend on things like public transportation."

[wardd]

you forgot to highlight this


"They rolled out the retirement package to us, which far exceeded anything we had proposed," said Richard Abelson, executive director of District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a public sector union that represents more than two-thirds of county workers here. "It was a bad deal. It was a bad deal for taxpayers. It was a bad deal for union members. The impact it would have on the budget in the future was dramatic."
But excluding special lump-sum payments, retirees' pensions are not particularly rich. In 2009, the average annual pension payout was less than $19,000, according to county records.

[ishmael]

Cities and towns in most parts of the country are looking hard for ways to cut their budgets. Public transport probably has some fat that can be cut, but cutting basic service is a mistake. With the energy issues afoot, we should be encouraging people to take the bus or the train.

Baltimore had a pretty good bus system, which I used extensively. I really don't like driving into a downtown area if I don't have to. I kept a Ford van at the time which I needed for work, but whenever I got a chance I'd ride the bus.