NYT: Once Safe, Public Pensions Are Now Facing Cuts [View All]

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/business/06pension.html?hp&ex=1162875600&en=ee329a0011ee6307&ei=5094&partner=homepage

After losing a leg in the line of duty, Dan Toneck, a San Diego police officer, spent nearly a year in rehabilitation before returning to work, doing his job for another five years with an artificial limb.

Mr. Toneck, 37, was granted a disability retirement last year after 16 years on the job. Some of his fellow officers wept as he left headquarters for the last time.

Then, 10 months later, the impossible happened. San Diego cut his pension by about 10 percent, along with those of about 180 other disabled city retirees. “They’re trying to pay the bills on the backs of the employees,” Mr. Toneck said.

Across the country, government workers’ pensions are protected by guarantees even stouter than those on pensions in the private sector. The legal promises, often backed up by union contracts, cover more than 15 million people.