The Canadian Taxpayers Federation recently obtained some shocking stats from the City of Calgary.

The stats are the kind of figures you’ll want to bring up the next time a lethargic city councillor lazily claims, “we had no choice, we had to raise taxes.”

City data shows there are 236 city employees who are set to receive not one, not two, but three pensions from the City of Calgary when they retire.

Yes, three pensions. You can’t make this up.

Meanwhile, 76 per cent of people working outside government don’t have a workplace pension. None.

Most of us outside government have to take some of our paycheque each month and invest it for our retirement.

But at the City of Calgary’s triple pension club, everything is different. Here is a simplified version of what’s going on.

First, all permanent city employees are part of the “Local Authorities Pension Plan.” This pension proudly notes on its website that it’s “quite generous.” The pension plan also notes “currently, the [government’s] total contributions averages almost 13% of your annual salary every year.”

So if you earn $80,000 per year at the city, the city puts away another $10,400 towards your retirement each year. Must be nice.

Assuming someone is 60 years old, and worked for 30 years at the City of Calgary, the pension plan’s calculator suggests the employee would be inline to receive about $44,000 per year when they retire. But note that the annual $44,000 also rises with inflation and is guaranteed no matter how long the employee lives. Most people would love such a benefit.

On top of this benefit, hundreds of city employees will receive two additional helpings of golden pension gravy courtesy of taxpayers.

Just like the main plan, the “Supplementary Pension Plan” also puts away money into a fund for city employees. On average, it worked out to about $2,942 per eligible employee in 2017. At the same time, employees in this plan would put in a slightly lower amount and receive a second guaranteed payout when they retire – on top of the main plan. (Note: There are currently 979 city employees poised to receive two pensions upon retirement.)

But the cream of the crop plan – the Overcap Pension Plan – really takes the cake. This plan is 100 per cent paid for by taxpayers and cost an average of $9,885 per eligible employee in 2017. It’s essentially a top up pension on top of the top up pension for the pension plan that describes itself as “quite generous.”

Together, these three pensions schemes boil down to one golden retirement for over 200 city employees; one city hall observer estimated that a former top city employee would receive over $200,000 in combined pensions.

Needless to say, it’s time to shut down the pension party at city hall.

Find a good stick and gently nudge your city councillor to see if he or she is awake. If they are, ask what they are doing about this problem? The status quo should not be an option.

This column was published by the Calgary Sun on August 9, 2018