The Golden Years State

Buried in this SF Gate story is this gem of understatement;

"This strikes me as extremely poor management of the workforce," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. "You would never see this in the private sector."

'This' being;

California paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars last year alone to compensate departing and retiring state workers for vacation and other leave time saved during their careers, and one public employee topped the list with a $488,000 check.

Data show that 24,000 state employees are banking vacation time while exceeding a state cap on such mass accumulation of benefits, according to a 2013 report by the Legislative Analyst's Office. That's a 140 percent increase from 2005.

And the state's bill is sure to grow, too. The most recent calculation, done in 2012, showed the state owing its employees $3.9 billion in unused leave pay. There are no estimates of what that unfunded liability is today. 

We wonder how many municipal bond issues have been floated within California that didn't disclose such.