juliew - don't be silly - of course we all know who you are. In fact, we know your salary is $70,955 plus benefits of $23,069.

Well, I feel much better now that the problem has been solved by all. So many contradicting statements that it is hard to believe what is fact or fiction here.

Sigma, congratulations on the socks!
I knew that you could do it if you just kept trying!

"When the going gets tough, the tough rob gas stations."

Let's just see how all this will ultimately work out for those service providers who most people seem to revile much of the time, but who willingly risk their safety and often their lives to spend countless years of their careers trying to decipher, investigate and repair people's inability to make appropriate choices, good decisions about relationships, parenting (and lack thereof), drinking, drugs, driving, and just plain locking up your car car and house and closing your garage at night!

Yup - they're there mostly (and mostly thanklessly) just to save a rather limited segment of the population from itself and its incompetent decisions - unfortunately often perpetuating such incompetence in the process - and before which Nature stood as the prime clearinghouse for such errors.

I hope that first responders continue to care...but I suspect that getting educated, quality candidates to apply and then to put up with being mistreated at both ends of the scale over the course of their careers will really take its toll in the ultimate long-term delivery of competent, quality services.

Ah well - all can take heart...rest assured that Nature always stands ready to step in and, ahhh..."lend a hand"!

Moooommmm...sissy hit me !

goodamerican i think she gotya you did judge her when you said she is angry and should go to angermanagment and it would benefit her. apoligaize and move on. to the point of the article I think it is fair to expect governement workers to pay towards their pension and other benefits just like i have to in the real world. I also do think that most maybe like over 97% of government workers do receive SS and medicare one way or another.

My brother was a Milwaukee policeman. He never paid 7.5% into Social Security and retired at age 55 with a healthy pension. He then took another job to get his 26 quarters in for Social Security and now is covered by Medicare. 7.5% of one's yearly income is a lot. I believe other state workers ( like teachers) don't have that option.

Thank you for making judgments against me especially since you do now know me. I guess that what makes you a "Good American" and not a Great American

goodamerican: your missing the point, the point is that almost all people who are employed by the state pay FICA taxes and it is part of their retirement plan. if you read my post you would also note that i said for example.

12345678: If you read her post you would note that she never mentions firefighters, she instead talked about someone who worked for the University of Illinois. As someone who recently worked for the state of Illinois i can tell you I paid my FICA tax.

juliew...joy is partly right on her comment.Retired firemen do not receive Social Security,regardless of their age the only retirement $$ is from their pension.May I also say it's a very nice pension at that.

did the police & firemen get huge raises when the economy was doing great,,,, i believe not, the bosses and CEO's did. i havent heard of ANY CEO's taking a cut in pay , if they screw up they get a $20 million "golden parachute".if a fireman or police officer screws up, it very well could cost them their life !!!!......

Joy almost everything you said is 100% false, please check your facts. Everyone who gets a pay check pays FICA taxes regardless of how much or little they make and no one who is a legal US Citizen is banned from accepting social security or medicare. What you are referring to is a practice that most states including Wisconsin does with public workers, their pension and health benefits are part of social security and medicare. For example if you retire at 55 you can get your full pension but when you are eligible for social security your pension payout is reduced by the amount of your Social Security. This saves the state pension system money. for example if your the amount your pension pays you a month is $3,000 and when you turn 65 your social security payout is $1,500 a month you only get $1,500 from the state pension.

I am one of those affected earlier on. I still agree with it because I looked at the situation with less bias than some of the others. I wish our states could bring in more revenue to afford it. We can't so a cut was needed to keep things running. I just hope we don't ruin it by wasting those savings in other government waste. Apply it directly to the debts and lets get the states running again. I am curious as to why the "90%" voted for it so quickly? What was the give and take of it?

Some civil service employees do not pay into Social Security and Medicare and therefore are not eligible for them. I do not have a list or know how it is determined. All I know is my SIL worked for the university system in IL and part of their benefits is to be guaranteed health insurance for the rest of their lives along with their civil service pension because they cannot collect the other. Of course, IL government is in such wonderful shape financially that it is likely that the retirees will start having to pay some of the premium for the health insurance which they didn't used to (of course, they didn't have the SS and M taken out of their paychecks for the 30 years before they can retire at 55, so really they don't come out behind, unless the union dues they paid offset all or most of that).

blisslady - pretty sweet deal? Why are you not one of them? With your infallible knowledge and understanding of everyone’s jobs, your close ties to the Republican government and your inability to ever make a mistake, you would be at the top of the hiring list…right?

mcs-Never thought of it that way, but wouldnt it exclude wages earned in the fire service? Would hate to experience a career ending injury without the safety net.

dodgeco...What you say in realty isn't entirely correct. It takes something like 40 qtrs of work to be eligable for s.s. That can be attained by part-time work or during retirement.

analertcitizen...Yes the police pay into the s.s. system in Janesville but the firefighters do not. That has nothing to do with the pension system. There are several different professions that don't pay into the s.s. system. Several police agencies,firefighters,railroad workers ..etc. This all has to do with being given the option of opting out when the s.s. system first started.

Police in most places, including here, do pay social security. The downfall to MPD is that they are not eligible for social security benefits.

MrObvious - X2. I agree.. we who work to support all these freeloaders should get something instead of higher taxes.

WOW! So this is going to fix or help with anything. The small amount that will be saved is a joke compared to other state programs.
Why doesn't the state food quest program get any attention? If anyone wants to get the state back in the black, how about a good look at the amount of money that is thrown at this! Don't take my word just look at the numbers. If i worked in the office that puts these numbers out every month I think I would puke! http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/em/rsdata/f...
How about someone get a pair and reward the tax payers that are taking care of themselves and not using the system. I think a $1,000 take cut at the end of the year for those that don't use any assistance is a great start!
Just my thoughts but you can't use logic i suppose....

Policemen in Miwaukee do not pay 7.5% into Social Security. Do policemen pay into it here?

When the economy is good, police, fire and other public sector employees don't reap bonuses or substantial pay raises. One of the lures of public employment has always been the benefits. When you start taking away those benefits from extremely important positions like police and fire, look out for the people that are now willing to take those jobs.

These headlines and comments are very misleading. The Police and Firefighters have been paying the full contribution into their pensions for many years. Every since they were part of the State of Wisc. pension system. Through out the years,when the GM's of the world were getting the huge raises, the public sector were refused these raises so they negotiated benefits in lew of a pay raise. These pensions contributions were some of those benefits. YOU CAN SEE NOW HOW THE CITIES,COUNTIES AND STATE NEGOTIATES IN GOOD FAITH.

It is not a pay cut, they are paying SOME of their fair share.

The general wages increase (according to the Gazette)..
2%...1st year
2%...2nd year
4.25%...3rd year

16 holiday hours....increase

1 day.....increased in "floating holiday"

It looks like a pretty sweet deal.

more bs shananigans as the scooter-effects continue to trickle down. and i'm betting he won't be cleared in the john doe proceedings either. crooked-arse clown.

wpt-Im sorry but no one is paying 6.65% of their wages towards union dues. Some more fuzzy math "contributing to YOUR OWN benefits is not a pay cut" it is when someone else was paying for it before.
I like how Bill O'Reilly recently blasted Pres. Obama for the reduction in wages across the country, Gov. Walker does it and he's a hero????

Maybe it is a paycut?... Maybe if the city knew how to manage money (and a city) it wouldnt be broke and have to do this. So instead of anyone doing anything to eliminate the actual problem (the people making financial decisions) everyone is just going to complain instead?? HA! Some day someone will figure it out...

I can see that most of these comments are from union workers who are not giving anything up but just take and take. All non union workers pay into their retirement and not complain because the savings of not paying union dues pays for there pension. So why not drop the union dues and they will still be ahead of the game. Unions and lawyers have been killing this nation for the past 30 yrs yrs to the point it is today. We need to wake up and smell the coffee and see what is happening to us here in America.

I'm not going to say they're over paid. The starting salary for a Jvl police officer is like 30-something thousand a year. NO THANKS. I admire them for doing a very difficult job, but contributing to YOUR OWN benefits is not a pay cut.

It's a paycut? Here's an idea, give them the option not to contribute, and thus not to receive the benefits of those contributions. My employer does not offer retirement benefits. I contribute to a plan on my own. It's not a pay cut. They're getting it back eventually.

on a $40,000.00 salary at 6.65% is %2,660.00 on top of the high taxes and medicare and social security And some still think the make to much. Not to mention that their Jobs are a very high RISK LEVEL.

janesvilliab I agree it is a form of paycut.6.65% is a chunk of change out of their pay.
positivejanesville why should some risk their life everytime they go to work and not think twice about it. These workers, Janesville firefighters, police deserve to have this small benefit as part of their willingness to do the work they do and not know if they are coming home after their Job is done for the day. Public employees who are not unionized public safety workers have been paying similar amounts into their pensions since Act 10 was enacted in 2011. And this is why UNIONS are needed as they get these benefits for their workers.

Not really sure what socialist definition of "fair" you are all using. Just because one sector of workers has to take a pay cut doesn't mean everyone else should. If your house burns down, should we burn your neighbors....just to be fair?

Let's be honest with ourselves: this is a pay cut.

This is the right thing to do! Why should some employees pay into their pensions and others not? Way to step up and do the right thing! This saves the city money that is why this is news!

So how and why is this news? I have matching socks on today.