Speaking of “doomers . . . .” I’ve just updated my online “California Is Doomed” fact sheet. In addition to updated stats, it also is somewhat reorganized to put similar issues together — taxes, for instance.

Plus I added a new stat on how CA ranks in the new Small Business Tax Index for 2014. I won’t tell you where the Golden State ranks — suffice it to say that if it were the 2nd worst state, that would be an improvement.
http://www.TinyURL.com/CA-vs-other-states

Remember “it takes a village” to make it……..or to clarify…doomers survive by all playing in the sandbox together!

A couple cities in San Diego County do not count it as salary. Most do. Can’t off the top of my head remember which cities wisely opted out of making it salary.

OF course, a WISE city would not be paying the employees’ pension contribution in the FIRST place!

One thing to check out in such figures is whether the county counts the “employee pension pickup” as a salary increase

The pension “pick-up” counts as pensionable salary. I don’t know any pension system that does NOT count it towards pensionable salary.

Donk, that rank and file, GED job Orange County “investigator” gets over $100K in pension and healthcare alone!!!!!

Reminds me of a phrase I heard years ago: “Dad, does a life of crime pay better than a factory job?” “Only in government Son.” Or should I say, the RAGWUS. 🙂

Fire “Captain.” Sounds impressive, until one realizes that in urban firefighting units, “captain” is the guy in charge of a 3-4 man fire truck. Contrast that position with a POLICE captain who has scores of subordinates he supervises — a position very few cops achieve. A captain in the Army or Marines likely commands over a hundred personnel. A NAVY Captain often commands hundreds and even THOUSANDS of sailors and civilians.

While that overpaid “fire captain” commands 2-3 people on a fire truck. Big Whoop.

Here’s a figure I’d like to see researched — how many firefighters retire as fire captains? It would seem that as each firefighter hits his forties or fifties, in most cases they will be put in charge of ye old fire truck.

We all know what a year in an elevated position means for retirement purposes. Actually I’d expect that each captain would try to serve for THREE years, as most CA public employees get as many as FIVE pay increases in that short three year time frame.

Yes, it IS a racket. A labor union racket. But score it also as a labor union coup. The taxpayers have been snookered big-time.

So overpaid and benefitted, it is amazing. The highest paid worker in HB is a fire captain at over $300,000. What a joke. 🙂

One thing to check out in such figures is whether the county counts the “employee pension pickup” as a salary increase. Different jurisdictions do it differently, usually without a clue that they are giving loot away to no purpose.

The difference, of course, is that — if it’s counted as SALARY — that boosts the base off which the pension is calculated. It can turn a “90% pension at 30 years” into a 98+% pension — without the employee paying a dime towards the higher pension payout.