The Press-Enterprise: Tax increase and service cuts loom

A great editorial in today’s edition of The Press-Enterprise:

One long-term solution to this problem is simply to have fewer public employees who would receive a pension through CalPERS, and utilize public-private partnerships to deliver services. Given how lucrative pension benefits have been for many public employees, unions have been sure to stifle discussions of this sort.

According to Transparent California, full-career, non-safety public retirees in the Inland Empire receive average pensions of $73,712, while safety public retirees averaged $98,888. Reasonably, anyone who stands to receive such benefits would want such a status quo to continue, thus they remain the most active in local and state government.

But taxpayers simply cannot afford it without making even more sacrifices. Until Inland residents pressure their governments to look to alternatives, the trend of rising costs, fewer services and more taxes will persist.

Read the rest here.