San Benito County’s upcoming transition to a two-tier system of
retirement health insurance benefits will help save substantial
funds in the long term and, most important, it breaks a
psychological barrier in government ranks with potential to help
bring public employee compensation ever closer to the reality of
private-sector fluctuations.
San Benito County’s upcoming transition to a two-tier system of retirement health insurance benefits will help save substantial funds in the long term and, most important, it breaks a psychological barrier in government ranks with potential to help bring public employee compensation ever closer to the reality of private-sector fluctuations.
County officials are set to unroll the two-tier system in January. While current employees will remain on the old plan – which allows for benefits after just six months of service – new workers are first eligible after 10 years on the job.
Leaders project the move eventually could amount to seven-figure savings, which is smart planning that reflects a focus on changing the structurally extravagant, inflexible entitlements in government work that have weighed down local budgets for decades while setting the stage for financial disaster in particularly difficult times and limited progress in others.
San Benito County leaders, fortunately, are riding the wave of reform occurring throughout California where other local municipalities already have started implementing similar two-tier benefit plans.
Bureaucrats and elected officials, it appears, are starting to get the message – and widespread preference from taxpayers – that the government should not grow faster than the private sector. Rather, it should act as a reflection of financial conditions experienced by the citizens, or investors, who keep it running, who make the ultimate decisions on Election Day.
For many years, public employee unions have solidified a slate of inflexible, generous benefits and salary packages for their workers. Elected leaders, by and large, have waited far too long to address the problem, but it’s better late than never.
Implementing the two-their system for retiree health insurance could stand to finally break that psychological barrier and allow talks to begin on other topics that might never have reached the negotiation table otherwise.
