Thursday, February 05, 2009

Pogrom?

Everyone is holding up the extreme case of a UNM Vice President who is double dipping as a reason to stop retired public employees from returning to work for the government. Before I go any further I should state that I am a 'double dipper' too. I retired from State Government service with 20 years under my belt at the age of sixty. About 15 months later the Governor asked me to return to work for him as State Natural Resource Trustee. I have been holding this position for the last 18 months. My retirement will not increase because of this return to service and the Public Employees Retirement Associaiton, PERA, is still collecting as if it would. So this actually is increasing PERA's take. The state pays that amount.

If this Pogrom should succeed there will be at least two hundred less policemen working for the Albuquerque Police Department. They will simply move to other states. Other high skilled workers will also move on.

I would agree that upper limits for salaries of those returning would be in order. Someone who is making over $100K a year probably could afford a reduction in benefits or salary. But I don't believe the policy of banning this practice makes sense in the long run. Especially when it is mostly aimed at communities with over 55,000 residents as one bill proposes. Does that mean we all move to Los Lunas or Pena Blanca?

There are a lot of honest hard working people that are being maligned by some here. It is unfair to them.

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