Detroit POA president speaks out
Reflections on the Detroit bankruptcy; “Just one way they are attacking us all”
Submitted by Mark Diaz, President, Detroit Police Officers Association
There are two retirement systems in Detroit. The general retirement system which covers all of the civilian employees and the police and fire retirement system which covers police and fire but not EMS.
The pension changes to the civilian employees could be steep, but right now we are hoping that they are not as steep as some are predicting which would bring the average pension for a city employee down from $19,000 to $3,000 annually.
Currently the average pension for a retired Detroit police officer is $24,000 annually. The changes being proposed will be imposed should we fail to reach an agreement. This means there will be a total loss of nonvested pension benefits and the imposition of a 401K a without any Social Security benefits.
For some of our Detroit officers that means that though they may have 17 years in the system they would lose all of their pension and would be forced to start in a 401(K) plan a from scratch.
My prediction is that this loss of pension benefits will eventually find its way to more if not all public safety agencies throughout the nation. For those of you who believe you are safe, I ask you to think about how your pension system would look should the actuarial formula implemented here – figuring their systems funding level based on the current market value of the funds assets – come to your town. This is just one of the many ways they are attacking us all.
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