Opinion
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Nov. 7 - Nov. 20, 2015
Community Commentary
47
Letters to the Editor
Public safety retirement program Writer supports idea of service animal for autistic wrapped in red tape a 145 percent increase in just four budget Let’s say you’ve discovered a problem cycles! While the average budgeted cost in your house: A hole in the roof, a leak of retirement for most county employees in the plumbing, a crack in the structure. is less than $6,000 a year, for county law You’re looking at an expensive repair. enforcement personnel, the budgeted Your heart sinks. It’s deflating, just when average has risen to over $33,000 a year. you thought you were For a tight budget, that’s getting ahead. a big deal. But you really have no So as the county puts choice. Left unaddressed, aside millions to bring the leak could quadruple the pension funds back your water bill every into stability, we have month, erode flooring, less money to invest in ruin furniture and fixtures other services. A few and eventually damage— cities are so strapped even destroy—your entire they can’t hire new investment. You have to police officers to replace fix it. the ones who retire. That’s exactly Maricopa County can, the choice Arizona but it’s squeezing the governments confront budget. with the coming fiscal A taskforce tidal wave of public commissioned by the Denny Barney. Submitted photo employee pensions, League of Arizona Cities specifically the Public and Towns has developed Safety Personnel Retirement System an outline to evaluate reform options, (PSPRS). The public employee pension based on key principles of a healthy issue is a national one, but in Arizona it is system. But PSPRS reform is a legal, especially acute, particularly the system financial and political thicket, as thorny that covers public safety employees like as it is critical. police, fire, sheriff deputies, detention Any real solution will involve officers and probation officers. That sacrifice—by taxpayers, public employees system has less than half the money it and retirees. I am encouraged that Sen. needs to pay all its liabilities. Debbie Lesko, chairwoman of the Senate There is no easy way to put this. Finance Committee, has stepped up to We are drowning in red ink—and it’s lead a diverse pension study group and getting worse. In the past few years, the hopefully we will see some action during increased costs to local governments the upcoming legislative session that have been staggering. begins in January. Consider: We have weathered the It won’t be easy, but solving the Great Recession, a precipitous drop in current crisis and developing an property tax revenues, budget cuts and equitable, sustainable system must be a nearly $270 million in shifts from the priority. state in recent years. But since 2012, the annual county Denny Barney is a Gilbert resident and PSPRS contribution has jumped from member of the Maricopa County Board of $10.6 million to $25.9 million. That’s about Supervisors.
BY DENNY BARNEY
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My grandson was diagnosed with autism last December at age 3 1/2. Through testing, they found him to be allergic to dogs. They have two Boston terriers. One of the dogs is by my grandson’s side all day long. I think he senses the autism. Like this child, my grandson’s dog is very important in his life. Think about it: The child knows he is different and struggles to be normal—or what we think is normal—and accepted. An animal wants to be accepted, too. So I think the child feels comfortable with his animal because it accepts him as he is and he is not trying to change him. He also knows his animal is different in the way it communicates, just like him, and how he feels different. This animal will listen and truly seem interested. Some of us could learn from this. We all want to be heard. We in the world are always trying
to get the autistic child to see things our way so he can live in this world. Thankfully, we do have people who are reaching into the minds of these kids to find out how they see this world on their own and take that information and teach them. People have all kinds of animals to assist them. These animals could possibly sense a seizure just before it happens, or retrieve an item for its owner that is needed, or soothe a child who is in this crazy world and trying to make sense of it all. Why would we want to take that comfort away from a child? There are programs in Arizona that can assess whether your animal is truly being used as an assistant animal or a pet. Try Arizona Bridge to Independent Living. Cindy Tuxford
Legislature must restore universities’ funding Recently I’ve read a few articles and comments on websites about the importance of restoring some of the funds the Arizona Legislature cut from our three state universities earlier this year. They cut $100 million from the universities’ budget, which left them scrambling to make adjustments to such enormous funding cuts. Certainly they didn’t want to raise tuition or slash programs, but the enormity of the cuts was unexpected and startling. We now know that the budget the legislature passed was based on very low revenue numbers when they actually knew that there would be more revenue. So, we now have more
than $750 million in the rainy day fund. Everyone will be trying to get a piece of that pie; however, serious consideration must be given to restoring some of the universities’ funding. If we don’t properly fund higher education in Arizona, the threat of losing new businesses or destroying the ability for existing businesses to expand is very real. Businesses make decisions based on an educated workforce. We will improve the economy as we produce highly educated and prepared workers.
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to the SanTan Sun News is considered your permission to print your written opinion. Opinions expressed in Community Commentaries, Letters to the Editor or cartoons are those of the author, and not that of the SanTan Sun News.
Rhonda Martin Chandler
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