Stan Geiger

Pension Limitation Bill Stops Short

A bill that would prevent state pensions for retired government employees from growing beyond what the employees made while working seems headed for passage in the Legislature. That's a good thing. But it's not good enough.

Even if the bill is passed into law, government employees will still be allowed a state pension equal to their highest annual pay while employed.

The poster child in the debate was a fellow that is reportedly pulling down a $147,000-a-year state pension even though he was never paid more than $83,000 while working.

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that pensions, once accrued, can't be cut. So I presume the proposed law won't be retroactive and won't effect the poster child's pension. It will apply only to people that haven't yet retired.

But even if the new law was applied to the poster child's situation, he'd still be eligible for an annual pension of $83,000 per year---which is more than twice the state's average wage for people that have to work for a living.

Retirement benefits for public employees have become a very expensive problem for taxpayers. The only real solution to that problem lies with abolishing public pension funds. They should be phased out. And the sooner we begin the better.

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