| This Saturday there will be a special election to approve or reject an amendment to the State Constitution to consolidate the state's pension plans.
Most West Virginians seem uncertain about the measure. Massey Coal CEO, Don Blankenship, who spent millions defeating Supreme Court Justice McGraw to "save the children" is spending several hundred thousand dollars in any effort to defeat the measure.
The measure is widely supported by Gov. Manchin as a sound economic method of consolidating the debt load of the state's pension plans, he says much like a consolidation loan for household debt.
He says it will help the state's finances and help insure the pensions of tens of thousands of government employees.
VOTE YES ON PENSION AMENDMENT
By William C. Davis -
President, AARP West Virginia
You will have a chance to cast an important vote on Saturday, June 25 when West Virginia voters will consider the Pension Bond Amendment.
We know that pensions are a key component of retirement security and this amendment will help protect important retirement funds. AARP believes that with voter approval of the Pension Bond Amendment, we can correct the financial sins of the past. We urge you to vote "YES."
Right now, the state must make a larger payment each year. This year's payment is about $350 million. The payment will increase every year, and in 2034, the payment will be $724 million for the Teachers Retirement Plan alone.
Governor Joe Manchin wants the state to refinance this debt by selling bonds to create a fixed payment. The Pension Bond Amendment will allow the state to establish a fixed 30-year payment of approximately $350 million each year.
It is much like refinancing your house to obtain a lower payment. This is not new debt; it is old debt - and this election will not cost the taxpayers a penny more in taxes. By making this change, West Virginia will save at least $1.5 billion over 30 years.
The upcoming election on June 25 is critical for the future of West Virginia residents, especially for retired persons.
The time is NOW to fix our current unfunded pension liabilities and get ready for our future aging population.
AARP West Virginia urges you to vote "YES" Saturday, June 25 on the Pension Bond Amendment.
VOTE NO ON PENSION AMENDMENT
By Steve Allison, Grantsville WV
Government lies like a cheap rug.
It tries to obfuscate and conceal the true burden on taxpayers by refusing to state the less than obvious.
The forthcoming vote on the $5.5 billion bond to cover promises made but not funded, is to run 30 years, meaning that your grandchildren will likely still be paying it off and the bottom line will be well over $11 billion, over twice the monies borrowed, to ensure that civil SERVANTS will not have to adjust their lifestyles after they retire like the rest of us.
And I guarantee that this will be only the first of many such stopgap measures.
Many of these SERVANTS are or were employed in government functions our short-sighted legislature created in the name of the people, its elected members apparently either too dull or too beholden to civil SERVANT unions to foresee the consequences of their actions.
In addition, civil service once paid more poorly than the private sector and the trade-off was acceptable since they did receive fringe benefits better than those offered on average by private business and had job security that couldn't be equaled by the free market which did not have the taxpayers' wallets to pick when times were tough.
This disparity no longer exists thanks to the leverage of the unions, associations and brotherhoods with the power to paralyze government (if only it could be!) if their demands were not met.
Once they achieved that power, the public had no defense; their jobs couldn't be converted to temp positions nor be exported to employ cheaper labor elsewhere.
It would be of great interest to pick ten state government positions for which there is a private industry equivalent, and compare the value of pay and benefits to see how WV stands related to the situation elsewhere.
By rights, there shouldn't BE any civil service equivalents; government is the least efficient provider of any services since it has no incentive to keep expenses down.
Any service prevalent in the private sector should be bid out and awarded to the cheapest qualified contractor.
The state also does not want to discuss the $3.83 billion in reserves it has and that does not even include reserves held by lower level government.
Take a look for yourself:
cafrman.com
Please think long and hard before you support this renewed burden on the futures of your kids and grandkids; you are enslaving them by allowing government to pile on more debt.
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