The Anecdotal Life Part. 72
With our boats "up on the hard" all we have to worry about now is whether or not the ethanol in the gasoline tanks is busy eating up those selfsame tanks and all the stuff it's connected to.
Or so I thought until I read the Capital Newspaper here in Annapolis. Headlines read "Court Ruling Could Bankrupt City"...a quote from our Mayor Moyer.
Wasn't sure that concerned me other than it could mean higher taxes, (bad enough that!), but the lead line caught my eye and the second line got me to my feet immediately. Line one: "Maryland's highest court ruled against Annapolis Friday in a a 5-year-old legal battle over whether retired police officers and firefighters are entitled to raises in their pension." Line two: " the Court of Appeals said the city must give retirees the same raises their active-duty brethren receive." Well, well, well, how do you like that? Does that mean the new pension ruling passed to raise pensions for teachers, the one that leaves out all teachers who entered the system before 1985, is illegal and subject to review for fairness? Hmm, I hope so, because here I go again, campaigning or appealing to powers that be, such as AARP and the NEA for help in a cause that has been lost so many times in favor of the state legislature. We used to have a terrific retirement teacher's pension in Maryland when I entered the workforce in the 1970's. Then the finance committee of the legislature put their clever but heartless heads together and sometime in the 1980's offered the teachers a new pension and wow, we could withdraw our funds we'd already paid in if we opted for the new pension. Well, a lot of people did and a lot of people got skunked by a pension that was so bad Maryland dropped to the 48th place in the nation's ratings on pensions. After a time when, surprise , surprise, they couldn't get good teachers, another offer came around that was to correct all that. Only it didn't. What it did, do was to include bus drivers, custodial workers, cafeteria workers etc.; all of whom had been left out of the state pension plans. So a somewhat less substandard, but still below average pension was put in place sometime in the 1990's because the people in Education and their support people don't do the numbers that are hidden in a tiny formula in their contract and were feeling grateful just to be included.
Recently a new twist from the twisted State's financial minds hit the boards and passed because it ,too, sounded so good to the majority.. A raise in the pension to attract new teachers was proferred and it was for all those who entered the system after 1985. Forget how the now older, retired teaching population was doing. Nasty smell of ageism there. Well, I object again, as I did before. And now God willing, maybe we have a case.
Or so I thought until I read the Capital Newspaper here in Annapolis. Headlines read "Court Ruling Could Bankrupt City"...a quote from our Mayor Moyer.
Wasn't sure that concerned me other than it could mean higher taxes, (bad enough that!), but the lead line caught my eye and the second line got me to my feet immediately. Line one: "Maryland's highest court ruled against Annapolis Friday in a a 5-year-old legal battle over whether retired police officers and firefighters are entitled to raises in their pension." Line two: " the Court of Appeals said the city must give retirees the same raises their active-duty brethren receive." Well, well, well, how do you like that? Does that mean the new pension ruling passed to raise pensions for teachers, the one that leaves out all teachers who entered the system before 1985, is illegal and subject to review for fairness? Hmm, I hope so, because here I go again, campaigning or appealing to powers that be, such as AARP and the NEA for help in a cause that has been lost so many times in favor of the state legislature. We used to have a terrific retirement teacher's pension in Maryland when I entered the workforce in the 1970's. Then the finance committee of the legislature put their clever but heartless heads together and sometime in the 1980's offered the teachers a new pension and wow, we could withdraw our funds we'd already paid in if we opted for the new pension. Well, a lot of people did and a lot of people got skunked by a pension that was so bad Maryland dropped to the 48th place in the nation's ratings on pensions. After a time when, surprise , surprise, they couldn't get good teachers, another offer came around that was to correct all that. Only it didn't. What it did, do was to include bus drivers, custodial workers, cafeteria workers etc.; all of whom had been left out of the state pension plans. So a somewhat less substandard, but still below average pension was put in place sometime in the 1990's because the people in Education and their support people don't do the numbers that are hidden in a tiny formula in their contract and were feeling grateful just to be included.
Recently a new twist from the twisted State's financial minds hit the boards and passed because it ,too, sounded so good to the majority.. A raise in the pension to attract new teachers was proferred and it was for all those who entered the system after 1985. Forget how the now older, retired teaching population was doing. Nasty smell of ageism there. Well, I object again, as I did before. And now God willing, maybe we have a case.
posted by The Anecdotal Life at 10:37 AM
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