Reader says If you want to truly save tax dollars, reduce the school budget.
Its one of the nicer things about Ridgewood.
I’m tired of the new residents bitching about the nice things here, like the Paid Professional Firefighters, and rear yard trash pickup.
They come here, raise our taxes with these foolish school budgets, million dollar artificial turf sports fields, 10 million dollar horse farms (turned into sports fields) then beat feet out of town after their last kid graduates RHS, leaving the rest of us to foot the tab.
If you want to truly save tax dollars, reduce the school budget.
A good first start is larger class sizes, and shift medical ‘benefits’ to a bare-bones plan
Let me guess, the author of this thinks the BOE is grossly overstaffed, that class sizes should be increased, and that administrator positions should be eliminated ? And I bet the author is a member of the Gang of 8 VoR +$100K municipal retiree club, but not a BoE retiree. The agenda here is to make sure that more dollars go towards their free lifetime healthcare and pension, which they get for 30+ years because they retired in their 50s. The author clearly hates teachers, school kids, sports fields and education, and thinks teachers should get bare-bones medical coverage versus his free Cadillac healthcare family plan
you keep bring up the pensions , so what can you do on a local level about pension guarantees or is its just a argument to try to deflect criticism ?
We can’t do anything at a local level about already promised pensions, unless the Village wants to challenge final salary calculations used for pensions. We can move all new hires to 403(b) defined contribution plans and ask them to contribute more than 10% of their pay towards their pension. The state pension fund could file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy if their assets are insufficient to meet their obligations. It’s slowing the rate of growth that matters the most, taxpayers are already on the hook for $100bn of unfunded promises made to NJ municipal retirees.
Let me guess, #1 thinks the police, firefighters and all municipal workers are grossly overpaid, that they have a cushy job and they do nothing all day, and because they don’t work in Newark of Jersey City they aren’t in any danger?
And I bet the author is a member of the gang of 12 from The Financial Advisory Committee. The agenda here is to make sure that more dollars go towards their kids education, and less to public safety departments and the municipal workers in general.
The author clearly hates police officers, firefighters, DPW workers, and the women who work at Village Hall. They think all municipal workers should get bare-bones medical coverage versus the gold plated Cadillac healthcare family plan the part time teachers get.
Number 3 said
taxpayers are already on the hook for $100bn of unfunded promises made to NJ municipal retirees.
NJ Accrued Pension Liability highest to lowest
Teachers Pension – TPAF Accrued Liability $51.405 Billion Dollars
Municipal Workers – PERS Accrued Liability $45.393 Billion Dollars
Police & Fire Pension -PFRS Accrued Liability $31.732 Billion Dollars
Page 13 from the NJ Pension study Report dated January 2014
Looks like the teachers have the largest liability to me .
All categorically false. And you can get whatever healthcare you want, just pay for it instead of asking Villagers to subsidize you for free !
#4 you forgot to mention that when the kids of these residents are all finished and graduated from RHS they are out of here….
#1 & #4, you can not guess or read properly!
#1. I never worked for a NJ municipality a day in my life. As a business owner I create jobs and pay my own way. Sorry to burst your bubble.
And you lost your ‘bet’. I’m not a member of any ‘gang’.
#4. The post was pro-firefighter. I guess you could use some remedial reading skills, but I’d prefer that you pay for your own tutor.
And I do not belong to any ‘gang’.
I do not hate the people that you accused me of hating. I do however dislike dopes such as yourself that spew nonsense.
To #8
I posted as #4 responding to the person who posted as #1, not your statement. I agree with you entirely.
I thought I made that clear by stating
” Let me guess, #1 thinks the police, firefighters and all municipal workers are grossly overpaid………”
If I wasn’t clear enough I apologize .
It will always be the most difficult budget line-item to cut. Why?
“It’s all about the kids”
Apology accepted.
Historically municipal/state/federal jobs paid less than the private sector, with the trade-off being early retirement with generous pensions and lifetime medical benefits for the retiree and spouse.
Now it has morphed into higher than ‘real world’ wages without any givebacks for the medical plans and retirement benefits.
How about they pick 2 out of the 3?
In re: #3’s post the village cannot move new hires to a 403 pension as NJ. state laws state otherwise. Gov crispy crème has already been advised by the non partisan office of legislative service that he cannot declare a pension emergency ( because there is none ) thus eradicating his ability to invoke executive privilege. Steps have already been taken to slow growth of pension cost by increasing employee contrib. from 8.5 to 10% and changing the calculation method to an average of the last 3 year salary, and working 25 yrs for a 60% pension instead of 65%, salary growth has been stunted by reviewing the arbitration process, and rewriting the rules to favor the towns. Gov. crispy crème also signed legislation allowing a lower amount of contribution from the govt. to the pension fund, which can only further erode the funds stability. Don’t blame the worker look where the real problem lies.
What about the $60 billion in pay as you go healthcare ?
so rewrite the state laws to allow for defined contribution plans instead of more costly defined benefit plans, problem solved. How did that fire captain get a +$100K pension form a final salary for pension calculation of $148,489 ? 60% of that is only $89,000. Where’s the difference from ? Also, what about the $20/month max on health insurance contributions ? That’s way too low.
So how many teachers are there in NJ versus policemen and fire fighters ? What is the accrued liability per person ?
No answer to the question above about accrued liability per person, huh #5 ? Just proves how fuzzy your math is. You can twist the argument anyway you like. The fact is that we pay some of the highest wages for Public Safety in the country, which leads to some of the highest public pensions in the country, with almost free healthcare coverage for life thrown in even thought that’s actually a bigger cost to taxpayers than wages, accumulated sick leave and pensions. Kind of crazy that we pay this much when we pay less to our troops protecting us around the world, not to mention the overworked fire fighters in Detroit who answer over 20 calls A DAY just to knock down fires ! It’s pure chutzpah to hear anyone complaining about the deal they get in Ridgewood. And if it wasn’t for our great schools, people wouldn’t pay these taxes and you wouldn’t have any of this. Sorry, but its just fact that the majority of residents are here paying 66% to the BoE because of the schools.