Riordan's pension plan

Former LA Mayor Richard Riordan has come up with a new plan to screw City workers.  He wants to create a new pension system.  I have been working for the City of Los Angeles for 36 years.  I didn't take the "sweet deal" and retire because I wasn't old enough.  Now I am thinking I will NEVER be able to retire, as the City starts looking to correct their fiscal mistakes by changing the pension fund.   Let me clarify a few misconceptions here.  I have been paying into the City pension fund since I became a full time Civil service employee in 1983.  I have been paying 6%, which I believe is the current rate people pay into Social Security.  I have n\been working for the City since I was eighteen, I NEVER paid into Social Security, so I don't have that to fall back on. I ONLY have the pension I have been paying into for almost 30 years.  This year, They upped my contribution to 11%, to pay for the fiasco of the "early retirement" deal that was supposed to help stabilize the budget and save a ton of money.  What it DID was throw departments into chaos as places lost a substantial amount of the workforce it could not replace.  There was a job freeze.  I lost THREE supervisors.  There was NO ONE in charge in my division.  How that helps, I am flummoxed to know.  I currently also pay FIVE percent toward my medical benefits ( not FOUR as the current Mayor is saying in the papers).  I also have a 40 hour furlough requirement to fulfill.  I am the only person in my department who does what I do.  When I am not there, my already overworked colleagues try to take up the slack, but some things just don't get done till I get back.   I was reading how they are fussing about banked vacation and other overtime and how we should take it.  A vacation is so you can relax, right?  How can I relax   Knowing there will be a mountain of work awaiting me upon my return?  Some of my colleagues try to read their email when they are on vacation, just to keep it at bay.  We are not supposed to do that, but people do.

One of the things in the plan that REALLY ticks me off is the uneven structure of contributions.  DWP - who are ALREADY paid substantially more than  I am for the same type of work, will pay 6 % while mine will go up to 14?  Nice.  Their pension fund is different than mine and maybe the City didn't screw theirs up as badly.  Still , they should be paying the same amount, since a larger percent of a larger salary equals more money in the kitty.

The article I read said it will cost MILLIONS to get the pension reform on the ballot.  I have a crazy idea.  Hey DICK RIORDAN, why not just contribute the money to the City to get them out of the fiscal hole they are in.  The contributions and reforms that are already in the works were supposed to fix the problems politicians like you created for us.