Letter: Hidden Cost of Pensions 'Outrageous'

Over the past few months, I received the 2011-2012 budgets and a breakdown of fire and police retirees pensions and healthcare costs. If more taxpayers realized where the money is actually truly going, their blood would boil.

The provisions in the contracts are so outrageous that if more voters realized what they are and their costs, they would want to rip them up and demand our money back.

There are approximately 84 firefighters in which they demand 21 members be on duty at all times; referred to as minimum staffing. Anyway, there are actually 73 who are retired collecting an average of $48,000 a year and an additional approximately $17,400 for their continued paid healthcare if you include a spouse for a total of $65,000 a year.

As for the police, there are approximately 70 on the department, excluding civilian personal and 71 retirees — imagine that, there are more retirees than those working.

The average yearly pensions are $39,000 and the same for healthcare for a total of $56,000 a year. In addition to the above, town workers receive 15 holidays, three personal days and 20 sick days that can be accumulated up to 200, in which when they retire receive approximately 145 plus up to 180 accumulated vacation days. Vacations are as high as eight weeks. Healthcare plans costs approximately $19,400 including dental the maximum contributions are $45 a week.

When you do the math, the unions are killing us, however, when you consider the alternatives that could save millions of dollars annually and the fact that voters keep electing the same people who know all this very well means that taxpayers are killing themselves.

I could go on about double holiday pay, $1,800 annual clothing allowances, longevity bonuses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and overtime provisions that make you sick — but for what?

Anyway, may God continue to guide the Johnston Patch and may one day very soon taxpayers open their hearts to the truth.

Thank you,

Peter A. Filippi III

Founder of the Johnston Taxpayers Association