Yet Another Broken Walker Pension Promise –
Paid for by Taxpayers
MADISON – New calculations by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin show that Scott Walker will earn a county pension nearly 58% higher than he deserves, and after eight years as Milwaukee County Executive he is scheduled to receive $60,800 more than other County employees who earned the same pay over the same time. Over a traditional 20-year retirement period, this equals $152,000 more in pension benefits than he deserves.
As Scott Walker continues to try to score political points off empty pension promises, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate demanded that Scott Walker make good on his phony pension posturing by returning an additional $7,600 in annual benefits that Walker is set to receive based on his broken pay-cut promise. Tate also called on Walker to change the pension formula so his benefits reflect the pay he receives.
This is in addition to the $18,000 that taxpayers should be paid back for the “share” they contributed to the pension of the failed Milwaukee County Executive while he was in the Legislature.
“When it comes to pension reform, Scott Walker is nothing more than a big talker,” said DPW Chair Mike Tate. “He ran on pension reform in Milwaukee County, but eight years later major problems persist. Walker grandstands about employee pension contributions, even though taxpayers picked up his $18,000 state share. He complains about large pension payouts even as he gets $7,600 more annually than he deserves. It’s great to talk the talk, but when you’ve never walked the walk you can’t be trusted to deliver real results.”
Walker originally promised to give back a portion of his salary, an election-year promise that he abruptly broke without explanation in 2008 when he gave himself a $50,000-a-year-raise in the midst of a recession.
However, since he’s been County Executive, Walker has been receiving pension benefits at the original $129,611 salary level.
But if Walker’s pension benefits were calculated at the $69,611 levels from 2002-’08, and $119,611 from 2009-’10 (after he broke his promise), he should receive only $13,137 per year in taxpayer-funded retirement pension benefits. Instead he is receiving $20,737 per year – or $414,740 over a typical 20-year retirement.
The difference between what Walker is scheduled to receive and what he should receive is $152,000 in benefits over a standard 20-year retirement.
“Scott Walker is a career politician who has spent most of his adult life feeding at the taxpayer-funded trough for salary and benefits, but that doesn’t prevent him from hypocritical grandstanding on pension issues,” said Tate. “Instead of cheap gimmicks to score political points, Scott Walker needs to cut a check to Milwaukee County taxpayers for the thousands of dollars in overpayments that line his pockets.”
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