Welcome to scenic and historic Buffalo, New York! It’s a great place, famous for chicken wings and an NFL team which holds a record which may never be broken. But for all its glory, like so many other cities and towns across the Empire State, Buffalo is facing big budget problems. Belts are being tightened and times are tough. Unless, that is, you happen to belong to the teachers union. If you do, you’re probably feeling pretty!

As thousands of teachers face layoffs across the country, teachers in Buffalo, New York are getting lipo? Yep. And nose jobs and whatever else they want. All on the taxpayers’ dime. How is this happening?…

The sweet deal that all the 3,400 teachers in Buffalo are eligible to get under one of their insurance plan options, they are billed nothing for any plastic surgery procedure, such as botox, liposuction, tummy tucks, and there is no deductible.

Linda Tokarz teaches second grade and says she gets regular treatments. She says, “I think its great for us. I wouldn’t want to see it taken away.”

The local news station interviews one plastic surgeon, Dr. Kulwant S. Bhangoo, who reports that three out of every ten patients he treats are public school teachers who come in for everything from face lifts to breast implants and they don’t ever open their wallets. It’s all on the taxpayer dime.

And it’s not as if the school district is just rolling in dough. The president of the board of education, Louis Petrucci, tells reporters that he’s projecting a budget deficit of $42M this year. The cost of the insurance rider to cover free plastic surgery? $5.9M per year.

Nice work if you can get it.