Public safety retirement program wrapped in red tape
BY DENNY BARNEY
Let’s say you’ve discovered a problem in your house: A hole in the roof, a leak in the plumbing, a crack in the structure. You’re looking at an expensive repair. Your heart sinks. It’s deflating, just when you thought you were getting ahead.
But you really have no choice. Left unaddressed, the leak could quadruple your water bill every month, erode flooring, ruin furniture and fixtures and eventually damage— even destroy—your entire investment. You have to fix it.
That’s exactly the choice Arizona governments confront with the coming fiscal tidal wave of public employee pensions, specifically the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS). The public employee pension issue is a national one, but in Arizona it is especially acute, particularly the system that covers public safety employees like police, fire, sheriff deputies, detention officers and probation officers. That system has less than half the money it needs to pay all its liabilities.
a 145 percent increase in just four budget cycles! While the average budgeted cost of retirement for most county employees is less than $6,000 a year, for county law enforcement personnel, the budgeted average has risen to over $33,000 a year. For a tight budget, that’s a big deal.
So as the county puts aside millions to bring the pension funds back into stability, we have less money to invest in other services. A few cities are so strapped they can’t hire new police officers to replace the ones who retire.
Maricopa County can, but it’s squeezing the budget.
A taskforce commissioned by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns has developed an outline to evaluate reform options, based on key principles of a healthy system. But PSPRS reform is a legal, financial and political thicket, as thorny as it is critical.
There is no easy way to put this. We are drowning in red ink—and it’s getting worse. In the past few years, the increased costs to local governments have been staggering.
Consider: We have weathered the Great Recession, a precipitous drop in property tax revenues, budget cuts and nearly $270 million in shifts from the state in recent years.
But since 2012, the annual county PSPRS contribution has jumped from $10.6 million to $25.9 million. That’s about
Any real solution will involve sacrifice—by taxpayers, public employees and retirees. I am encouraged that Sen. Debbie Lesko, chairwoman of the Senate Finance Committee, has stepped up to lead a diverse pension study group and hopefully we will see some action during the upcoming legislative session that begins in January.
It won’t be easy, but solving the current crisis and developing an equitable, sustainable system must be a priority.
Denny Barney is a Gilbert resident and member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
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Writer supports idea of service animal for autistic
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
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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.
Rhonda Martin Chandler
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