PRESS RELEASE: Libertarian Florida State House (District 33) Candidate Franklin Perez Inclined to Support Florida House Bill 1543 to Bring Pension Rates for Police and Firefighters to 70% Salary Rate to Help Deal With State Budget Crises as Advocated by Libertarian Think Tank CATO Institute
From: perezfrank...@hotmail.com To: w...@salemorlando.com; edi...@seminolechronicle.com; n...@foxwofl.com; insi...@orlandosentinel.com; n...@wdbo.com; d...@wesh.com; n...@wftv.com; w...@wmfe.org; edi...@cfadvocate.com; cba...@bizjournals.com; n...@orlando-times.com; jbill...@orlandoweekly.com; mcort...@osceolanewsgazette.com; isa...@observernewspapers.com; tcr...@observernewspapers.com; k...@observernewspapers.com; bma...@orlandoweekly.com; wmfen...@wmfe.org; skuber...@orlandoweekly.com; jstr...@orlandoweekly.com; abeabor...@gmail.com; lp120....@gmail.com; superchan...@superchannel.com; wvend...@entravision.com; j...@orlandoheritage.com; noelle.sli...@foxtv.com; i...@tv45.org; n...@laprensaorlando.com; gju...@mysanfordherald.com; bligg...@sanfordherald.com; ow...@sanfordherald.com; n...@sanfordherald.com; apopkach...@earthlink.net; bbcla...@bellsouth.net; newsd...@eosun.com; rpala...@orlandosentinel.com; re...@dioceseofvenice.org; madison...@aol.com; smaxw...@orlandosentinel.com; smcbr...@orlandosentinel.com; srec...@orlandosentinel.com; bwhi...@orlandoweekly.com; l...@kearneypublishing.com; hillary.pfeif...@wftv.com; lmcdon...@local6.com; tufue...@telenoticias.net; tra...@greenlifenews.org; woti...@aol.com; kathy.ke...@news-jrnl.com; me...@news-jrnl.com; ja...@teapartypatriotslive.com; vra...@orlandosentinel.com; happyt...@orlandoweekly.com; channe...@daytonastate.edu; wesh2n...@gmail.com; lett...@orlandoweekly.com; ra...@teapartypatriotslive.com; mtho...@orlandosentinel.com; jrthompso...@gmail.com; fmacdon...@seminolecountyfl.gov; jspr...@seminolecountyfl.gov; desw...@seminolecountyfl.gov; gv...@seminolecountyfl.gov; alockh...@seminolecountyfl.gov; mlandr...@cityofoviedo.net; dpersampi...@cityofoviedo.net; shen...@cityofoviedo.net; kbrit...@cityofoviedo.net; ssche...@cityofoviedo.net; jfb...@winterspringsfl.org; jho...@winterspringsfl.org; rbr...@winterspringsfl.org; gbon...@winterspringsfl.org; smcgin...@winterspringsfl.org; jkr...@winterspringsfl.org; mruss...@orlandosentinel.com; frie...@foxnews.com; m...@glennbeck.com; glennb...@foxnews.com; ontherec...@foxnews.com; floridiansun...@gmail.com Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Libertarian Florida State House (District 33) Candidate Franklin Perez Inclined to Support Florida House Bill 1543 to Bring Pension Rates for Police and Firefighters to 70% Salary Rate to Help Deal With State Budget Crises as Advocated by Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:23:05 +0000 From: Franklin Perez Florida House District 33 Libertarian Candidate PRESS RELEASE: Libertarian Florida State House (District 33) Candidate Franklin Perez Inclined to Support Florida House Bill 1543 to Bring Pension Rates for Police and Firefighters to 70% Salary Rate to Help Deal With State Budget Crises as Advocated by Libertarian Think Tank CATO Institute Dear Members of the Press and Public: While walking my House District 33 in Volusia County last week, I was asked about Florida House Bill 1543 by two voters. I did some research on Florida House Bill 1543. You may view the contents of this bill by going to the following hyperlinks: 1) http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/SEctions/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=44364&; 2) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=381068836146&ref=ts 3) http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2010/House/bills/billtext/pdf/h154300.pdf The http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2010/House/bills/billtext/pdf/h154300.pdf hyperlink contains the full text of the bill. Many states, including Florida, are experiencing budget problems. One of the causes of this is the huge pension plans that many State employees have and will be difficult to meet. You may read details of this and other state budgetary concerns by going to the following hyperlinks: 1) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SemCountyLibs/message/4274 2) http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=77z,1at5u,jid,ip3a,1dzk,k81l,fk10 Due to information in the above hyperlinks and the information below, I am inclined to support HB 1543. The 70% rate of latest salary for pension is STILL 10 percentage points above the 60% average for State employees. Employee Compensation in State and Local Governments "State and local governments face large budget deficits as revenues have stagnated and spending has remained at high levels. To reduce deficits, large savings can be found in the generous compensation packages of the nations 20 million state and local workers. In 2008, wages and benefits of $1.1 trillion accounted for half of total state and local government spending." [1] "Public sector pay averaged $39.66 per hour in 2009, which was 45 percent higher than the private sector average. The public sector advantage was 34 percent in wages and 70 percent in benefits.... [P]ublic sector workers have the largest advantages in health insurance, defined benefit pension plans, and paid leave. Those advantages stem both from the more expensive features of public sector benefit packages and from the greater availability of benefits in the public sector...." [1] "[S]tate and local workers have very generous defined-benefit (DB) pension plans compared to private sector workers. These plans have been overpromised and underfunded, which has created huge long-term gaps in government budgets.... According to official estimates, state and local pension plans are underfunded (or overpromised) by about $1 trillion. But these estimates greatly understate the poor shape of pension plans because they rely on optimistic assumptions to value future liabilities, a practice Warren Buffett has called 'accounting nonsense.'" [1] "A recent study by Robert Novy-Marx and Joshua Rauh found that governments are 'severely underestimating' their pension liabilities by the use of high discount rates. Using more realistic assumptions, the authors found that state and local pensions were underfunded by $3.2 trillion, or three times more than the officially reported amount. At more than $27,000 for every U.S. household, that indicates a huge exposure for state and local taxpayers." [1] "In 2009, DB plans were available to 84 percent of state and local workers but just 21 percent of private workers. And public sector DB plans are generally much more generous than the remaining private plans. One study found that the median public sector DB plan paid benefits more than twice as high as the median private plan." [1] "Virtually all public sector plans calculate benefits based on pay in the last one to three years of work. Private plans are more likely to use a lower-cost approach such as the last five years of pay or career-average pay. Also, public plans typically have a more generous factor to adjust pension benefits for number of years worked. In the public sector, benefits equal to about 60 percent of pay after 30 years of work is typical. In some jurisdictions, government workers inflate or 'spike' their pension earnings by getting themselves big raises or working overtime in their final year or two on the job." [1] "The excessive benefit levels of public pension plans are creating a looming crisis for government budgets and state taxpayers. To make matters worse, governments have also built up large unfunded costs in their retiree health care plans, a type of benefit that is rare in the private sector. I have estimated that these state and local health obligations are underfunded by at least $1.4 trillion." [1] Police Departments "In 2007, the budget for police in the City of Orlando was over $102 million. The city has just 200,000 residents, and last year the crime rate rose so much that Orlando was ranked one of the top ten crime cities in the United States. Crime in Orlando has been up 329% since 2006. Despite almost unlimited budgets that are not questioned by local leaders, crime surges. Every Monday morning, dozens of police in uniform descend into the Orlando suburbs, not looking for hard criminals, but instead, setting out to issue traffic tickets to moms in mini-vans and other taxpayers on their way to work. I lived within the city limits of Orlando for eight years. Every Monday through Friday, Orlando police set up a speed trap on Westpointe Boulevard, a divided four-lane road with limited traffic in the suburbs. In all eight years, I have never seen an accident on Westpoint Boulevard, but I can honestly say I saw hundreds, if not thousands, of speeding tickets issued. Near the end of my stay in Orlando, the speed limit was raised from 35 to 40 miles per hour, and the speed traps disappeared. The fishing hole had dried up." [2] "In 2004, there were 4.4 million traffic tickets issued in the state of Florida Rather than catching and arresting violent criminals,... [real criminals] or child molesters, our highly paid police force is out ticketing citizens for traffic violations and raising billions in additional revenue for government (I tried to calcute 4.4 million tickets times the going rate of $180 per ticket, but my calculator did not have enough zeros). If Florida eliminated money from traffic tickets and imposed, say, community service), do you think there would be a dramatic reduction in tickets? Of course! Police would find other sources of revenue. The reason police issue so many traffic citations is because that it is a profitable function of government. It's about the money." [2] Also, police waste millions of dollars per year enforcing Victimless Crime Laws amongst consenting adults - such as War on Drugs, Sex Worker profession, gambling, etc. - instead of catching REAL criminals like muderers, rapists, robbers, thieves, etc. If such laws were eliminated, millions of dollars would be saved by the taxpayer! Fire Departments "Nowhere in government is money spent less efficiently than in fire departments. The budget for the Orlando fire department was over $68 million, or 70% of the police department budget. The City of Orlando has almost entirely new, modern, fire-resistant buildings, and most commercial buildings have fire sprinklers. So what do 550 firemen do with no fires on a daily basis? They respond to traffic accidents. Every day, fire trucks worth $1 million each respond to fender benders. I once saw a 100-foot hook-and-ladder truck at a motorcycle accident, and another at a restaurant where a number of firemen were caring for a customer who had fainted." [2] "Firemen are stationed in fire houses with gyms in them, where firemen lift weights during shifts. The service that the City of Orlando fire department provides can be done by the private sector for 10% of the cost of the union fire departments. Like the road rangers found on the Florida turnpike, accident response does not need to come from a team of firemen. They perform this function simply because there are not enough fires to justify their existence. The very few real fires can be responded to regionally by the Orange County Fire Department." [2] "The firemen's union is so strong that no one questions the cost or efficiency of these services. We need to start looking at every line item in every budget to make sure the taxpayer is getting the best value for their hard-earned tax money." [2] Government Pensions "The 'holy grail' of government workers is the government pension. Teachers, police and government employees are all looking for the holy grail at the expense of the taxpayer. The under-funded pension plans that are destroying companies like General Motors are a hidden problem at the state, federal and local level. The total future taxpayer obligation to this pension fund will create a budget disaster that will grossly overshadow the social security problem. A recent report stated that every American family owes $500,000 in under-funded pensions for public workers and other underfunded government programs. The government pension was established when the average person lived into their 60's. Given the recent technological and medical advances, future generations will live into their 90's. A government worker can work for 25 years to the age of 47, and get paid for 75 years (to age 97), with full health benefits all the time. The only way to pay for those underfunded programs is to extract 'wealth' from the taxpayers. Why does the civil servant deserve a better pension and health plan than the taxpayers they serve?" [2] "Politicians and government workers receive guaranteed salary levels for the rest of their lives after retirement. The best way to prevent future pension-related budget problems would be for these workers and politicians to have the same retirement plans that most of us have in the private sectors: 401K plans [Defined Contribution Penson Plans]... that they own and control as individuals. That way, the taxpayers won't be on the hook for decades for billions of dollars of guarantees to retired government workers." [2] "The State of Florida has not funded any of the post-retirement healthcare benefits for state employees. With the tremendous increase in state and local government staff, Florida is headed down the same path that California is on. California paid $4 billion in retiree health care costs in 2006 and is projected to pay $27 billion in 2019. Almost all of these benefits are not funded and will come from a tax increase (or increase in fees). The City of Tampa has seen their pension fund contribution increase from $1.5 million in 2003 to $16 million in 2006. The City is trying to convert to a defined contribution plan, instead of the current plan that guarantees retirees a lifetime of income and health benefits based on their salaries and years of employment. Unless and until all government pensions are 'pay as you go,' the taxpayer will be burdened with a growing snowball of pension liabilities." [2] Major Cost-Cutting Needed "State and local governments across the nation face huge fiscal challenges. Spending on Medicaid is soaring, debt is rising rapidly, and many [state] governments have massive gaps in their pension and health care funding. To solve these problems, governments need to make major budget cuts. They should privatize services, cut staffing levels, and terminate low-value programs. And with employee compensation representing half of total state and local spending, large savings could be found by freezing wages and overhauling excessive benefit packages." [1] The reduction from 100% of salary to 70% of salary for the pensions of police and firefighters is STILL 10 percentage points above the average public sector pensions where "benefits equal to about 60 percent of pay after 30 years of work is typical." [1] So due to the above information, I am inclined to support Florida House Bill 1543 that would reduce the pensions of police officers and firefighters to the more reasonable 70% salary rate vs. 100% salary rate. If anyone would like to offer a good counter argument as to why the pensions of firefighters and police should remain at 100% of salary, please contact me, and if the argument is a good one, I shall remove my support for Florida House Bill 1543. (Note: As an aside, if government would simply eliminate all Victimless Crime Laws amongst consenting adults - such as War on Drugs, Sex Worker profession, gambling, etc. - then our state and local governments could really save millions of dollars!) References: [1] CATO Institute Tax & Budget Bulletin entitled Employee Compensation in State and Local Governments - http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=77z,1at5u,jid,ip3a,1dzk,k81l,fk10 [2] Pages 24 - 27 of the book entitled The Socialist Republic of Florida: How Florida Went from One of the Best Economies of All Time to a "Government Induced Recession" written by Orange County Mayor candidate Matthew John Falconer. Sincerely, Franklin Perez (Libertarian) Florida State House Candidate (District 33) - Year 2010 Libertarian and Independent! Not Beholden to Party Politics! http://www.fperez1776.com http://www.twitter.com/fperez1776 http://twitwall.com/view/?who=fperez1776 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1Z1WI2rNqE (407) 694-7805 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! 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