Legislators: Cut benefits for long-term growth

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Baltimore Examiner Editorial Board
Published on Friday, January 02, 2009
Public sector salaries matter. But not in the way that many employed by the state government think. State employees often complain their salaries do not match those in the private sector. But a quick search of the state's labor statistics puts that lie to rest. And a new study from the Maryland Public Policy Institute shows that state government compensation in 2007 was 11.1 percent higher than the average private sector job and has been higher since 1981. That is nearly four times higher than the national compensation ratio of public sector jobs to private sector ones of 2.8 percent, according to the study. The biggest contributor to the ratio is the generous benefits paid to Maryland state government workers in the form of health insurance and pension benefits. The study found that in 2007, state government benefits were $13,387 per job while private sector benefits were $8,604. In other words, state government workers received benefits worth 55.6 percent more than those in the private sector. Read More »

Benefits are biggest benefit of state job

Originally published in the Daily Record

By Danielle Ulman, Daily Record Business Writer
Published on Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Maryland state government employees racked up benefits worth 55 percent more than their private sector counterparts in 2007, according to a report on government pay released Tuesday. The Maryland Public Policy Institute study found that state employees received an average of $13,387 in benefits in 2007, compared to $8,604 in the private sector. "I think that in Maryland, the overwhelming majority of employers are small businesses; certainly small businesses can't compete with large businesses who can receive discounts based on their size alone," said Deborah Stallings, president of Columbia-based HR Anew, a human resources consulting firm. "From an employee benefits perspective, government is big business," she said. "They are able to provide better benefits because their costs are lower." The study found that the government paid workers an average of $47,313 a year, just over the $46,031 average salary of private sector employees, but state employees made much more in terms of health care and retirement coverage, with total compensation at $60,700 versus $54,635 in the private sector. Read More »

Paying for yesterday's burgers today

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Baltimore Examiner Editorial Board
Published on Thursday, December 11, 2008
We applaud Gov. Martin O'Malley for proposing furloughs for 67,000 state workers, including himself. The move would save about $34.4 million and help to balance the budget this year. But furloughs are a temporary fix; the state faces a long-term budget hole thanks to lofty promises it cannot fulfill without slashing services or raising taxes -- again. One of those promises is the State Employees' and Teachers' Retirement Enhancement Benefit Act of 2006. That law increased benefits for teachers who retire after 30 years to 54 percent of their salary each year from 42 percent. Read More »

Free Maryland teachers from unions

Originally published in the Baltimore Sun

By Tom Neumark
Published on Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Though some teachers may not realize it, Maryland's laws infringe on their freedoms, place the interests of unions over individual teachers and restrict the ability of teachers to become entrepreneurs. Teachers ought to have the right to be represented by a union. But they should also have the right to not be represented. Maryland forces teachers to be represented by unions, which violates teachers' rights and has negative consequences for teachers and students. Read More »

Yep, we're in the hole

Originally published in the Baltimore Examiner

By Baltimore Examiner Editorial Board
Published on Sunday, November 16, 2008
Forget your credit card debt and your mortgage. And forget the lousy state revenue numbers for October reported Thursday by Comptroller Peter Franchot. In his upbeat words, "the worst news may also not be readily apparent - the strong likelihood that the poor to abysmal October results do not reflect the full effect of the marked deterioration of the nation's economy over the last two months." Marylanders are a lot more in the hole than we realized.As the Maryland Public Policy Institute and Calvert Institute recently reported, state and local governments - read, taxpayers - are on the hook for about $50 billion in unfunded pension and other post-employment benefits promised by politicians to state and local workers. Read More »