San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

Government employees shouldn't get pensions. Let them buy into a 401k if they want to save. Why should they get anything private sector employees don't generally get?

their base incomes tend to be lower.

Fair comparisons would not show their base incomes to be lower, on average. That is a shibboleth pushed by the public employee unions.
The best evidence is the voluntary turnover rate in private vs. public employment. How many teachers, police & fire personnel, prison guards & secretaries quit to join the private sector? Not many, because the package of pay, security, fringe benefits, and retirement are now relatively attractive.

According to KUSI news, in 2006 40% of San Diego City firefighters made $100,000 or more. Plus they got a 6% raise this year, so close to 50% will make $100,000 or more a year now. That is pretty good for a job that does not need a college education and the employer pays for all the training.

While we certainly need firefighters and police officers, their pay is not set by the market but by political dictate and raw union power. Politicians, especially San Diego's union-dominated city council, don't dare challenge the public misperceptions of public safety workers.
The fact is, police work and firefighting isn't very dangerous. Neither occupation shows up in the top ten (timber cutters and fishermen are #1 & #2). But their deaths are big news and shapes public opinion and is easily exploited.

Wow I didn't know they got paid that well. Sh&^ that's alot of money I had no idea.

Here is pay for all city employees that made more than $75,000 last year: http://www.10newsblogs.com/pdf/earnings.pdf You will notice the first two pages have a lot of firefighters. After that you will notice a lot of police. I hope they can stop the next wildfire for that price, lol.

I know they can't stop the next wildfire, because they have not changed the fire code enough or the way they enforce the fire code to stop the next wildfire. Fire codes and enforcement is the only way to deal with a wind driven wildfire event. Pat Abbott predicted a fire like the 1970(ish) Laguna Fire would decimate East County property and probably take some lives in the future, when I took his Natural Disasters class at SDSU. He was right twice. The fire plan was wrong twice, and it is still wrong.

I know a lot of people in law enforcement and some in fire. If you think they make so much money, then you can go down and apply. I hear they need police. It's a difficult job. Long hours, especially when there is a fire.

You put your life on the line. Cops deal w/people on drugs who get violent. Working in Mid-City means there's a chance you'll get shot at since there's shootings there regularly. Even PB wasn't safe when cops were outnumbered.

Media doesn't even begin to cover every event and incident that happens w/cops on a regular basis. Just 2 weeks ago I was at Kaiser. When I was leaving, the street was closed and a motorcycle cop bike was laying on the street. Paramedics were there. This guy that was drunk in the middle of the afternoon hit the motorcycle cop who was stopped waiting for traffic so he could make a turn. He suffered broken bones in his leg, arm and hurt his back and neck. This cop fought in a war. Comes home to have a DUI hit him at work.

The income listed includes the overtime. I'd like to say it's nice they have the option of getting overtime, but some of the overtime is mandatory. Cops often have to work holidays often.

When there's fire, cops are also required to work overtime, securing perimeter, etc. This puts a strain on their family life, social life. Their job is not easy. It's stressful.

I've read and heard people complain about how much money they make and how little education is required, yet I never hear them say they're going to go get a job doing it. Why? B/C it's not so easy. It is a lot of work.

I heard the San Diego Police Chief on 600 AM one Saturday a few years ago. He said that with special training, swat etc, some police can earn $130k+.

I couldn't believe they made that much money. Plus I think they retire at 90% of the yearly average of their last 3 years pay.

John

Actually JP I do not have a beef about the salaries. However there is simply no way that they should have any different pension vehicle then standard 401k packages in the private sector. Especially when the city has to pay the shortfall on the pension if the pension does not make 8%.

I hear that a huge proportion of public safety employees retire on disability (by faking it) at a relative young age so that they get more money earlier.

For the past 8 years the cops have been putting their share that they're supposed to (deducted from their paycheck) into the 401k. The City that is supposed to match it, obviously, has not.

Cops got a raise last year, I believe. The last time they got a raise before that was something like 5 years ago. Why? They were convinced during negotiation in lieu of raise, to have X number of dollars go towards their pension. Yes. The very pension that has a deficit. Clearly did not happen, which means, in effect, they got no raise. I think it comes out to 1 raise in 7 years.

I don't know all the details, but all the details are not nearly divulged by the media of how the cops are getting screwed. Fire are doing better.

patiently, where did you hear about this "huge" proportion of public safety employees retiring on disability? I know of cops who have gotten injured. They don't retire. They get a boring desk job.