Deputy Mayor Ed Sklyer warned that the city's pension costs threaten the city's financial health. According to the NY Post, he told the Citizens Budget Commission, "Defined benefit plans such as what the city has were designed in an earlier generation and are not only obsolete but unaffordable. The private companies that have them, such as GM, are facing bankruptcy and bailouts. The city will be in the same position if we don't get these costs under control." Because of rising pension and health benefit costs, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson support a bill that would ask city employees to work for at least 25 years (instead of the current 20) and retire at a minimum age of 50 before reciving pensions. The Post notes, "Uniformed employees, such as cops, can now cash out at any age after serving 20 years," and a previous Post editorial said currently, "10,381 retired police officers under the age of 50 are collecting pensions that average $43,000 -- plus an annual "Christmas bonus" of $12,000 each.