VOA标准英语2013--Detroit Government Retirees Struggle to Keep Benefits

 

Detroit Government Retirees Struggle to Keep Benefits

Don Taylor spent 26 years of his life as a police officer in Detroit, the city where he was born and raised. It was a dangerous job, but one he is fond of.

It also provided a dependable paycheck, as well as a guaranteed pension and health care coverage¹ in retirement². Or so he thought. “There’s a dispute on the pensions, you know," he said.

“Borrowing a billion dollars to fund your pension, yes the pension is funded, but now it’s done through more debt," said Eric Scorsone of Michigan State University. He is on the team helping³ the city of Detroit emerge from its fiscal⁴ crisis.

“It’s probably as bad as any city has ever seen in terms of a fiscal crisis. My part is to work on tax and revenue forecasting and tax issues in general for the city as they work on a plan to move forward," he said.

The plan includes figuring out how to pay for retirement pensions funded with borrowed money, and how to pay for health care plans for current and retired⁵ public sector⁶ employees.

“The city really should be paying hundreds of millions of dollars more than it is right now, but there’s no money to do it, so the question is how do you fund that liability or do you reduce the liability by reducing benefits," said Scorsone.

Taylor says the pensions and health care plans of retirees are already modest.

“There are a lot of misconceptions too that in the city of Detroit, that the people’s benefits are “Cadillac” plans, and they’re overpaid, where the average pension is only $30,000," he said.

“I cannot believe that they could do any more cutting," said retired Detroit police officer Greg Trozak, who has two sons on the police force. While he is concerned about cuts to his own benefits, he is more worried about future benefits.

“I’m sure the active people are going to be hurting a lot more than a lot of us retirees are," he said.

“The elected officials in the city of Detroit should have seen this reduction in revenue coming, and should have seen that the population was declining years ago and should have adjusted for that, but they failed to do so. Now it’s resting on the backs of the employees and retirees," said Taylor.

The clock is ticking to turn Detroit’s finances around. Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has less than eighteen months to make difficult decisions that would bring about the Motor City’s eventual⁷ solvency⁸.

1 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

2 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

5 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

6 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

7 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

8 solvency   

n.偿付能力，溶解力

参考例句：

• Fears about the solvency of the banks precipitated the great economic crash.对银行偿付能力出现恐慌更加速了经济的崩溃。
• Their targets,including profitability ratios,solvency ratios,asset management ratios.其指标包括盈利比率、偿债能力比率、资产管理比率。