Re: “,” Nov. 1 news story.
What do you call someone who contracts for services and then, after the job is finished, does not pay the full amount that was agreed to? Thatap what the governor has recommended to fix the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association (PERA) pension fund. Retirees who spent their careers serving the state previously had tens of thousands of dollars removed from their benefits. Now they’re supposed to lose more.
I know Colorado’s budget is tight, so I have two proposals to help compensate for this loss from our pensions.
1. Since owners/managers of Colorado companies accept, through their elected officials, that it is not always possible to pay what was promised, PERA pensioners should be allowed to reduce payment of any contract by the same percentage that their pension was reduced.
2. Reduce their state taxes by the amount lost up to the full amount of their state tax liability.
.Dz,Arvada
After years of questioning the solvency of PERA, it seems that there is now a belated realization that it is not adequately funded. Really! Years of generous payments to government employees can no longer be supported. The now potentially insolvent account needs to be bolstered partially through reaching into taxpayers pockets. Great solution! (Not.) I am in complete agreement with the governor on this issue. Let the retirees take care of their own problem without burdening taxpayers.
Where were you when my retirements accounts were eroded during the recent financial crises? Is the obligation to the beneficiaries of this largess greater than the obligation to hard-working taxpayers and to proper fiscal management? I think not. There must be a solution that does not require taking money from non-participants.
Richard Kuberski, Arvada
So, we already have a critical shortage of teachers, largely due to notoriously low pay, because taxpayers seem to believe that “free public education” means they have no financial responsibility to support it. Now our governor wants to exacerbate the problem by taking money from retirees to address an issue that arose through no fault of theirs — that is, the most recent recession combined with continual meddling by politicians.
Considering the burdens placed on their shoulders by a society with an apparent attitude that “it’s not my job, so let’s put it on the schools,” one wonders just how much teachers can endure before the profession simply collapses. Why in the world would anyone consider entering teaching as a profession? When will taxpayers take some responsibility for the nature and quality of education our children receive? Believe it or not, we get what we pay for.
Howard Williams, New Castle
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