$822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway
 

That state is seriously $#%&@!.


*This is the first story in America's Great State Payroll Giveaway, a six-part series. Coming tomorrow: how a court ruling and state bungling sent the price of psychiatric care soaring, and led to suicides in California's prison and mental health systems.*


$822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway

By Mark Niquette, Michael B. Marois & Rodney Yap - Dec 11, 2012 12:54 AM ET

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defau...%20workers.jpg


$822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway - Bloomberg

* Across the U.S., such compensation policies have contributed to state budget shortfalls of $500 billion in the past four years

* Payroll data compiled by Bloomberg on 1.4 million public employees in the 12 most populous states show that California has set a pattern of lax management, inefficient operations and out-of-control costs. From coast to coast, states are cutting funding for schools, public safety and the poor as they struggle with fallout left by politicians who made pay-and-pension promises that taxpayers couldn’t afford.

* Davis had taken office in 1999 with a $12 billion budget surplus. Four years later, he began his second term by reporting a $35 billion budget deficit -- about $1,000 for every man, woman and child in the state.


Pay Increases

Davis and the Legislature also agreed to labor contracts that gave 164,000 state workers pay increases of 4 percent in 1999 and again in 2000. Those contracts cost the state an extra $1.3 billion within a year, according to the state’s independent Legislative Analyst’s Office.

There were more to come.

After technology stocks plummeted in 2000, cutting tax revenue, Davis asked state workers to postpone additional raises.

In lieu of immediate increases, Davis and the California Legislature agreed to link highway patrol pay to an average of the five biggest law enforcement agencies in the state. The result: escalating raises that came due after Davis left office. Officers’ pay rose 2.7 percent in fiscal 2004, 12.1 percent in fiscal 2005 and 5.6 percent and 5.7 percent in the following years, according the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Re: $822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway
 

Would like to see it taken a couple of steps further, regarding the exponentially increasing costs of prison systems the folks who work there and overall expense..

The three strikes laws and war on drugs are all failures.. just wait until these guys get old as things will get more and more expensive.. there is plenty of blame to go around.

Re: $822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway
 

prisons are too expensive and the prisoners have it too good.

very spartan is humane. if prisoners want anything beyond completely basic diet and quartering, then they should have to earn it.

I agree about the war on drugs, and we spend way too much money on incarcerating non-violent crimes.

Re: $822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway
 

I'm not sure why he, or anyone else in here cares. Unless you all live in California. :D

Re: $822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway
 

Do you live near Detroit, or East Lansing? :p


I post about fiscal issues all the time. This is also import because we could see the question of state bailouts someday. Would you be willing to pay for a federal bailout of another state? I wouldn't.

Re: $822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway
 

When Obama bails out California your tax dollars will be going there.

Re: $822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway
 

"Including one-time lump-sum payments"

I take it that rolling the present value of a lifelong pension into an employee's one-year salary is now part of his "pay" for that year.

Get stuffed. And by the way? He's an idiot. Never take the lump sum.

PFnV

edit: unless the doctor gave you a year to live or something.

Re: $822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway
 

I take it you didn't actually read the article.

In California, Governor Jerry Brown hasn’t curbed overtime expenses that lead the 12 largest states or limited payments for accumulated vacation time that allowed one employee to collect $609,000 at retirement in 2011

Re: $822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway
 

at retirement. And the accompaying graphic says "including lump sums."

Again, looks like you're against lump-sum payouts over annuitized pensions. I agree. You just don't know that's what you're complaining about.

By the way, thanks for trying to reproduce the text of the article. What you've typed makes no grammatical sense. If that's the original, it's worse.

PFnV

Re: $822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway
 

No state budget deficit or state pension should EVER be bailed out by taxpayers.

That's just common sense...