Ashford: CIR changes no panacea (this law dictates my pay & benefits if there is an impass)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110719/NEWS01/707199909#ashford-cir-changes-no-panacea

By Matt Wynn
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

A new state law that changed the rules for determining public salaries was never intended to solve Omaha's $573 million pension crisis, a state senator said Monday.

"Does Omaha get out of the woods? No," said Sen. Brad Ashford, who helped craft Legislative Bill 397. "Omaha got themselves into a real fix on pensions. And you're not going to get out of that in this bill."

The bill overhauled the way the state labor board, the Commission of Industrial Relations, resolves public wage disputes by taking pensions and other benefits into account. The commission makes pay rates comparable to those in other cities of similar size.

Many had assumed the legislation would save Omaha significant money because of the city's generous police and fire pension. The World-Herald found, however, that the bulk of the pension is paid for by union members, not by city taxpayers.

The city's much bigger burden is in paying down its long-term debt of $573 million — payments that won't be considered under the new law.

That's by design, said State Sen. Steve Lathrop, the architect of the law. It would have been unfair to consider debt payments when evaluating a pension system's benefits, he said.

FULL story at link.