|
|
|
It was with a great deal of sadness that I learned of the death of Randy Kemp. He was the kind of person that gallantly lived among us. So many of us took for granted his wit, his journalistic excellence and his overall contribution to society.
Many people in this community spent more time with Randy than I, but I value his counsel and his friendship. Randy talked to our Rotary Club several times and always gave interesting presentations abounding with good humor.
Randy gave me valued advice when I started writing my column for The Sun Times. He advised me not to try to answer every criticism. If you take strong positions there will always be those who disagree. How right he was.
He was never satisfied with just being average. While working full time he received his Master of Business Administration. He understood the business world and how capitalism works.
After Randy took his position with the County Government Association I went to Little Rock to visit him a couple of times. I wish I had gone more. When I made the first visit, Randy was at the hospital with a fellow churchman whose daughter had a serious accident. I remember also Randy collected funds and delivered them to Juarez, Mexico to assist a home for unwed mothers. His life was full of helping others.
We will miss Randy and how he helped us and led a life of dignity and worthiness.
*****************
You have probably read about states and cities with serious problems trying to pay bloated pensions and benefits to retired employees. A small city in California declared bankruptcy as they couldn’t pay the pensions of some of the retired firemen and police offices. Some of those retirees were looking at pension payments in excess of $100,000 per year.
In Arkansas we are not exempt from these types of financial pension problems. According to the August 18th Dem-Gaz the state’s second largest retirement system will be required to pay in an additional 12 million dollars by July 2012. This money will come directly from the taxpayers of the state – you and me. This amount was computed by the actuaries before the disastrous plunge in the stock market this July and August. Who knows what additional amount will be required if Wall Street doesn’t have a turn around in the next few months.
What is amazing in this convoluted story is that the trustees evidently didn’t even discuss the possibility of the state and local employees having to increase their share of payments. Currently the systems members contributed 34 million dollars while their employers (you and I as taxpayers) contributed 323 million dollars.
Apparently only Republican Senator Johnny Key voiced any possibility that the employees should be paying more for their own retirement program. His comment, “At some point we need to have a serious conversation that maybe employees have to increase their stake in this.” At some point? How about now? In addition there apparently wasn’t any discussion on reducing the three percent cost-of-living adjustment each year, even if the cost of living increase is less than three percent.
The editorial of the Dem-Gaz that same day discussed a related problem with state government employees. This is the practice of double dipping which is disgusting to most of us. Despite an attempt to limit this practice, out of 6,645 state employees who have retired since July 1, 2001 at least 980 have been rehired, many in the same position from which they supposedly retired.
Why should any public servant, once retired and receiving full pension payouts, be allowed to receive double payments and take the job of another seeking this position?
Governor Beebe says this kind of double dipping, at least for the officials he picks, is perfectly justified. Artie Williams was rehired as director of the state’s workforce services after a retirement that lasted only 30 days. The governor’s lame excuse was that although someone else might be hired cheaper they might not do as good a job. Has the governor not heard of the unemployment rate of 8 or 9 percent? When these 980 retirees are rehired, that means the same number of otherwise public workers are not being hired. Maybe a few of our government leaders need to be reminded that no one individual is irreplaceable whether it be the president, our congressmen, the governor or chief executive officers of large corporations.
Combating our governor’s talk of what a critical position this or that government executive holds, one of the major responsibilities of any executive is to train his or her executive replacement. Failure to do so should be cause in itself for dismissal. This happens in private industry but rarely exists in the public sector.
This practice of double dipping is not limited to just employees at the state level in Arkansas. We have some of that same practice right here in Cleburne County. More about that in a later column.
(Jerry Jackson of Heber Springs writes his “conservative viewpoint” column each Wednesday)
It was with a great deal of sadness that I learned of the death of Randy Kemp. He was the kind of person that gallantly lived among us. So many of us took for granted his wit, his journalistic excellence and his overall contribution to society.
Many people in this community spent more time with Randy than I, but I value his counsel and his friendship. Randy talked to our Rotary Club several times and always gave interesting presentations abounding with good humor.
Randy gave me valued advice when I started writing my column for The Sun Times. He advised me not to try to answer every criticism. If you take strong positions there will always be those who disagree. How right he was.
He was never satisfied with just being average. While working full time he received his Master of Business Administration. He understood the business world and how capitalism works.
After Randy took his position with the County Government Association I went to Little Rock to visit him a couple of times. I wish I had gone more. When I made the first visit, Randy was at the hospital with a fellow churchman whose daughter had a serious accident. I remember also Randy collected funds and delivered them to Juarez, Mexico to assist a home for unwed mothers. His life was full of helping others.
We will miss Randy and how he helped us and led a life of dignity and worthiness.
*****************
You have probably read about states and cities with serious problems trying to pay bloated pensions and benefits to retired employees. A small city in California declared bankruptcy as they couldn’t pay the pensions of some of the retired firemen and police offices. Some of those retirees were looking at pension payments in excess of $100,000 per year.
In Arkansas we are not exempt from these types of financial pension problems. According to the August 18th Dem-Gaz the state’s second largest retirement system will be required to pay in an additional 12 million dollars by July 2012. This money will come directly from the taxpayers of the state – you and me. This amount was computed by the actuaries before the disastrous plunge in the stock market this July and August. Who knows what additional amount will be required if Wall Street doesn’t have a turn around in the next few months.
What is amazing in this convoluted story is that the trustees evidently didn’t even discuss the possibility of the state and local employees having to increase their share of payments. Currently the systems members contributed 34 million dollars while their employers (you and I as taxpayers) contributed 323 million dollars.
Apparently only Republican Senator Johnny Key voiced any possibility that the employees should be paying more for their own retirement program. His comment, “At some point we need to have a serious conversation that maybe employees have to increase their stake in this.” At some point? How about now? In addition there apparently wasn’t any discussion on reducing the three percent cost-of-living adjustment each year, even if the cost of living increase is less than three percent.
The editorial of the Dem-Gaz that same day discussed a related problem with state government employees. This is the practice of double dipping which is disgusting to most of us. Despite an attempt to limit this practice, out of 6,645 state employees who have retired since July 1, 2001 at least 980 have been rehired, many in the same position from which they supposedly retired.
Why should any public servant, once retired and receiving full pension payouts, be allowed to receive double payments and take the job of another seeking this position?
Governor Beebe says this kind of double dipping, at least for the officials he picks, is perfectly justified. Artie Williams was rehired as director of the state’s workforce services after a retirement that lasted only 30 days. The governor’s lame excuse was that although someone else might be hired cheaper they might not do as good a job. Has the governor not heard of the unemployment rate of 8 or 9 percent? When these 980 retirees are rehired, that means the same number of otherwise public workers are not being hired. Maybe a few of our government leaders need to be reminded that no one individual is irreplaceable whether it be the president, our congressmen, the governor or chief executive officers of large corporations.
Combating our governor’s talk of what a critical position this or that government executive holds, one of the major responsibilities of any executive is to train his or her executive replacement. Failure to do so should be cause in itself for dismissal. This happens in private industry but rarely exists in the public sector.
This practice of double dipping is not limited to just employees at the state level in Arkansas. We have some of that same practice right here in Cleburne County. More about that in a later column.
(Jerry Jackson of Heber Springs writes his “conservative viewpoint” column each Wednesday)
