Chron discovers ongoing pension plan problems
The Chronicle's Dan Feldstein begins his recent article on the continuing precarious state of municipal pension finances in a peculiar manner:
City officials told the truth last year when they said new agreements lowering worker pensions would improve city finances and offer better job security for city employees.
But the whole truth, not just the happiest part, can be found in a new city bond prospectus — a 198-page document that must be candid under penalty of law.
An overview of city finances used by bond investors, it says that city retirement benefits might have to be cut again in the future and that taxpayer contributions to the pension funds will continue to rise.
This weblog hasn't been around all that long, but we've criticized Mayor White's funny pension numbers before, and we've called attention to an astute Houston Business Journal article that pointed out much of the reduction in the massive unfunded liability in the resolution touted by Mayor White (and repeated in the city's only newspaper) was a result of transferring the "asset" of the Hilton Americas hotel to the pension plan.
Just a few days ago, Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen spoke of journalists who "act as independent watchdogs of government."
Unfortunately, the Chronicle has thus far seemed inclined to repeat Mayor White's spin on the pension plans instead of engaging in more critical "watchdog" coverage -- so to many Chronicle readers, Feldstein's articles probably come as a surprise.
Of course, the Chronicle's lack of critical coverage when the Brown Administration was helping create these problems in the first place wasn't exactly "watchdog" journalism in an ideal state either.
RELATED: Fitch downgrades Houston bond rating
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/14/05 10:17 PM | Print |
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