My letter yesterday to the Texas Legislature
Background: The struggle is to find and to share a factual, dignified, nonpartisan, and universal voice while writing in first person. Even if you disagree, please contact your representatives before the final votes in about six weeks and this committee vote on Monday. We can have peaceful change together!
Oh, and while writing this letter, I missed playing the Rise of Empires (board game) by Martin Wallace with Hun and friends so you know it must be urgent! Thanks for your time.
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To: The Honorable _______________:
We are both state employees. You work part-time for the Texas Legislature for $7,200 per year and I work full-time under the ERS retirement system for $44,000 per year, but my views will neither
reflect my employer nor the people we all serve including Texas teachers whose average starting salary within the TRS retirement system is $38,500 per year, according to texasteachers.org.
Your constituents often feel that government workers earn and spend too much money and have lifetime pensions and benefits that are no longer available to millions in the private sector. Let me assure all naysayers that under current retirement rules and at present salary, if I retire in 24 years, my annual pension will be $19,800 (not including inflation).
On Monday, April 29, 2013, please vote with conscience for all state employees and retirees and think about private sector compensation with CEO’s now earning “a whopping $7,000 an hour—350 times the typical worker's pay of $20 an hour,” according to an April 19, 2013, article in Money Morning by David Zeiler. I worry that you are eager to change the ERS and TRS retirement pension systems to please the few who fund your campaign or who lobby your office. This year, I have 15
years state service and under these amendments to SB 1459 and HB 1882, I would need to work another 22 years until I’m 62 years old or I will receive only a 75 percent annuity and could no longer use vacation or sick leave to retire earlier.
But, if you keep the same laws in place, I can retire at age 54, when my age plus years of service equal 80. My departure will also help to provide younger workers, who are already struggling to pay their student loans and to find fulfilling employment, with valuable career options within state government while having their benefits and pensions intact.
When you retire, thanks to your legislative colleagues from 1981, your retirement pension with eight years or more service is based 100 percent on the annual salary of a state judge. This means that after 20 years service, your $7,200 salary will balloon to $125,000 or a $57,500 annual pension (by multiplying the $125,000 by the 2.3 percent service percentage multiplier by 20 years.)
Our status quo future will continue to serve you and Governor Perry quite well as he is already taking a double-dip which most state workers cannot do by drawing his pension and annual salary together
(grand total: $242,000). The Texas Legislature should not exist to make laws that benefit the few rather than the majority constituents you represent including most state workers.
If you’re voting for these ERS and TRS retirement plan changes on Monday, then why not also reduce your own pension to the same levels as any state employee and also refund all state service credit for employees with less than 20 years service since they cannot retire until age 62? My own three years from TRS cost about $10,000 (plus interest from the original purchase date).
Respectfully,
Buffy Burnett
Austin, TX
Sources:
USA Today - http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/state-legislators-pensions/index.html
Money Morning
http://moneymorning.com/2013/04/19/ceo-pay-now-7000-an-hour-350-times-the-average-workers/
Texas Tribune
http://www.texastribune.org/2011/12/17/critics-question-perrys-move-collect-pension/
Statesman.com
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local-education/legislature-to-consider-teacher-state-worker-pensi/nXSC6/
Oh, and while writing this letter, I missed playing the Rise of Empires (board game) by Martin Wallace with Hun and friends so you know it must be urgent! Thanks for your time.
###########
To: The Honorable _______________:
We are both state employees. You work part-time for the Texas Legislature for $7,200 per year and I work full-time under the ERS retirement system for $44,000 per year, but my views will neither
reflect my employer nor the people we all serve including Texas teachers whose average starting salary within the TRS retirement system is $38,500 per year, according to texasteachers.org.
Your constituents often feel that government workers earn and spend too much money and have lifetime pensions and benefits that are no longer available to millions in the private sector. Let me assure all naysayers that under current retirement rules and at present salary, if I retire in 24 years, my annual pension will be $19,800 (not including inflation).
On Monday, April 29, 2013, please vote with conscience for all state employees and retirees and think about private sector compensation with CEO’s now earning “a whopping $7,000 an hour—350 times the typical worker's pay of $20 an hour,” according to an April 19, 2013, article in Money Morning by David Zeiler. I worry that you are eager to change the ERS and TRS retirement pension systems to please the few who fund your campaign or who lobby your office. This year, I have 15
years state service and under these amendments to SB 1459 and HB 1882, I would need to work another 22 years until I’m 62 years old or I will receive only a 75 percent annuity and could no longer use vacation or sick leave to retire earlier.
But, if you keep the same laws in place, I can retire at age 54, when my age plus years of service equal 80. My departure will also help to provide younger workers, who are already struggling to pay their student loans and to find fulfilling employment, with valuable career options within state government while having their benefits and pensions intact.
When you retire, thanks to your legislative colleagues from 1981, your retirement pension with eight years or more service is based 100 percent on the annual salary of a state judge. This means that after 20 years service, your $7,200 salary will balloon to $125,000 or a $57,500 annual pension (by multiplying the $125,000 by the 2.3 percent service percentage multiplier by 20 years.)
Our status quo future will continue to serve you and Governor Perry quite well as he is already taking a double-dip which most state workers cannot do by drawing his pension and annual salary together
(grand total: $242,000). The Texas Legislature should not exist to make laws that benefit the few rather than the majority constituents you represent including most state workers.
If you’re voting for these ERS and TRS retirement plan changes on Monday, then why not also reduce your own pension to the same levels as any state employee and also refund all state service credit for employees with less than 20 years service since they cannot retire until age 62? My own three years from TRS cost about $10,000 (plus interest from the original purchase date).
Respectfully,
Buffy Burnett
Austin, TX
Sources:
USA Today - http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/state-legislators-pensions/index.html
Money Morning
http://moneymorning.com/2013/04/19/ceo-pay-now-7000-an-hour-350-times-the-average-workers/
Texas Tribune
http://www.texastribune.org/2011/12/17/critics-question-perrys-move-collect-pension/
Statesman.com
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local-education/legislature-to-consider-teacher-state-worker-pensi/nXSC6/
