Kentucky’s doing pensions right

On Feb. 11, the Kentucky state Senate passed a bill that would end “guaranteed pensions” for new state and local government employees to resolve the Kentucky public pension funds’ growing liability. This bill does not affect any current Kentucky state and local employees, only people yet to be hired. It goes to the state House next.

Kentucky needs to stay ahead of the multibillion-dollar pension liability problem that is forcing tax hikes and painful spending reductions in other states. “It is just not affordable to go forward with our current plan, for state government or for local governments,” state Sen. Damon Thayer told his colleagues.

From a fairness perspective, taxpayers in the private sector struggle with layoffs, stagnant wages and benefits cuts, yet they’re expected to support generous public pensions far better than anything they will get to enjoy, he said. In Illinois we could simply substitute the word Illinois for Kentucky, and most Illinois residents would and should be thrilled with similar legislation. Why not — every Illinois taxpayer benefits in some way including all current Illinois employees (or public servants as Rahm Emanuel correctly refers to them), because none of their pension benefits will be cut or reduced.

Finally, the great state of Illinois is not an employment agency, but each and every person who works for Illinois should be honored to serve the Illinois public and think about that every day they go to work. Now let’s see if Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk have the courage to pass a similar bill since they both work for Illinois residents, not the Democratic or Republican party. Then we can have our House approve the same measure as we take one big progressive step toward solvency.

John C. DiMare Jr.

Hawthorn Woods