Joe Taylor v. City of Gadsden

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

This case presents a problem common to most cities in the United States. Their pension funds have been operating at a substantial loss, and the cities’ long-term liabilities are becoming unfunded at an exponentially increasing rate. That is, the contributions employees and cities are making to pension funds—as a percentage of the employees’ salaries—are being used to pay the pensions earned by retirees instead of being set aside and invested for employees’ retirements.

The trend is all too familiar to Gadsden, Alabama. In 2011, its pension program-administered by the…