Brian Thompson’s (Oct. 29) letter regarding the Fayetteville School District’s efi orts to get rid of senior teachers hits on a serious problem in our country: retirement benefi ts for public employees. Our taxpayers are expected to pick up the tabs for retirement benefi ts the average taxpayer cannot afi ord for themselves.
I came here from Southern California where “spiking” ofsenior administrators and elected politicians retirement benefi ts had become a common practice. The usual thing was to grant the person a big increase in salary the last year of work. Many retirement benefi ts were based on the last year or highest year of earnings.
Others were based on the last two- or threeyear average. The cost of the increased benefits was passed on to the taxpayers and/or other public employees whosebenefi ts were not based on spiking.
I knew one administrator who received 107 percent of his last three-year average (a school superintendent) and another who received 147 percent of his last three-year average. The last one was a personal friend of mine. After he retired, he was hired as a consultant and paid the equivalent of his last year’s salary.
Because of these excesses, some California cities and school districts have gone bankrupt and the state has fi nally started going to a two-tier system with new employees getting a new retirement benefit and the older ones keeping their unearned and spiked benefits.
It is time Arkansas taxpayers wake up and tell our elected representatives enough is enough.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 11/06/2013