Portland's Police & Fire Disability Fund
Over the holiday weekend, the Oregonian ran two large articles that shouldn't be missed - all about the Portland Police & Fire Disability Fund (here and here).
Apparently, the fund has been paying out disability claims to people who weren't injured on the job, to people who are perfectly capable of working, to people who have found other well-paying full-time work, and to some people who have been collecting for decades. And Portland's goes well beyond most cities' disability systems.
Today, the Oregonian calls it a 'scandal':
The city's pension and disability system is itself an anomaly:One in eight Portland police and firefighters are out on disability, which is much higher than the rate statewide.
In other Oregon cities, most injury claims close after a year, but half the recipients in Portland's system have collected disability checks for a decade.
In Portland, on average, a claim for lost wages costs $37,390 a year, which is roughly seven times what police and firefighters receive in similar circumstances elsewhere in the state.
And unlike other disability systems, Portland's has no built-in incentive to hold costs down. The money for FPD&R doesn't compete with other city budget priorities. It's financed, instead, by a separate property tax that simply goes up when expenses go up. "All of the incentives are backwards," a shocked workers' compensation expert told Bernstein and Walth.
"It's an incredible system. I can hardly believe it."
Read the two articles (here and here) and the editorial - and come back here to talk about it.
Discuss.
Elsewhere:
Jack Bogdanski adds to the story, as well as his own commentary.
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July 05, 2005
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connect with blueoregon
1:01 p.m.
Jul 5, '05
Like the library scandal, this troubles me. As a progressive, I believe strongly that we should treat people right, have good working conditions, and make service to our community a valued good.
That said, when someone is drawing thousands of dollars - and working as a combat medic, a bodyguard, a TV hunting guide - well, that just doesn't feel right.
Not only that, but when it takes money away from social goods like schools, parks, etc. it's hard to argue that this makes sense from a community standpoint.
Thoughts?
1:17 p.m.
Jul 5, '05
Sigh. Things just go from bad to worse. I look in vain for one level of Oregon government that is competently run. When I moved here from North Carolina a few years back, everyone congratulated me on how lucky I was. But I was less certain--after only a few short months, it was clear to me (at least) that the Oregon bloom had wilted and that most of the city leaders (and many of my neighbors) were in locked into complacency after the go-go 90s.
Here is a heretical statement for Blue Oregon: perhaps the problem here is that Portland is too Blue. Are many of these governance issues that we've identified in the past few years the product of one-party government (and associated waste, graft, and corruption)?
I'm not ready to vote Republican by a long shot, but I'd sure like someone to really "shake up City Hall." It's pretty sad when we can only rely on a few blogs and the Willy Week.
3:17 p.m.
Jul 5, '05
A true test will be whether, and how, the problems are addressed.
Disability payments for police and firefighters should not be as difficult to get and maintain as federal Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), but clearly Portland has a problem.
6:02 p.m.
Jul 6, '05
This would be a great opportunity for Mr. Nesbitt and some of his union buddies to get out in front of this issue by publicly repudiating fraud perpetrated by workers.
I've personally seen a few of these cases as a worker, and it sure makes me cranky as a taxpayer and as a member of the vast majority of workers who believe that the employer is someone to whom they owe an honest day's work for their paychecks.
As Americans, we stand tall for the idea of claiming the mantle of Victimhood, but all Progessive interest groups stand to gain credibility when they work to keep their own houses in order, and to go public with something besides the Grievance of the Week.
<h2>Come on and shock us.</h2>