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Lawrence Kennedy is a Fairfield resident. He submitted this commentary in regards to the ongoing budget talks between the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance.
I have become involved in the issues of Fairfield and its budget since moving here five years ago. In the local newspapers I have been reading about the property tax and budget discussions by both the politicians and the taxpayers of Fairfield and admit, at first, I wasn't sure which side I supported.
What I have discovered is that for many years the rationale in municipalities as well as state and federal government has been that benefits for the public sector employee should be better than the private sector employee because these employees are paid at a lesser rate than their counterparts. I have read numerous studies that dispel the idea that public employees are paid less than they would be paid in the private sector. In fact, some of those studies indicate that public employees are paid a premium over what they would earn in the private sector because their medical and retirement benefits are so generous.
Are public sector employees entitled to all those perks which are not available in most private sector jobs? What perks?
1) The ability to retire early or before age 62 and collect town paid pensions for the remainder of their lives.
2) Retirement packages that contain health care benefits, bonuses for attendance, pay for unused sick days, as well as pay for unused vacation days. In the private sector you can only carry a limited number of days into the following year and then you forfeit the excess.
Pensions, particularly defined-benefit pensions, can no longer be expected to "even up" the perceived inequity between the public and private sector. In fact, the pension currently being received by the public sector far out performs the 401K or private sector pension.
1) The private sector employee will receive a pension from Social Security at 62 the earliest.
2) Perhaps the money that they put aside by themselves in an IRA or 401(k) and might include some funds contributed by their employers.
3) These pension contributions terminate when the employee leaves the job.
The idea of lifetime pensions for public employees is an archaic idea whose time is past and is crippling states and municipalities, and I believe it is the largest single item that is contributing to the deficits of state government. It is time for a better plan to be found and maybe that is a 401(k) type of contribution for the public sector employee. The employee saves a certain amount of pre-tax dollars and the employer, in this case the town of Fairfield, makes a contribution as well, on behalf of that employee. When the employee leaves, the towns obligation ends. Towns can no longer afford what at one time wasn't a huge obligation but has now morphed into something that is no longer financially feasible for the town or the taxpayers who are the primary source of the towns revenue.
Want to voice your own opinion? Send letters to the editor to gcanuel@mainstreetconnect.us.
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