Legislature shares blame on pension problem
When state Sen. Tom Davis rants about the South Carolina employees’ pension plan, he shows his ignorance of such plans and a willful neglect of history.
Many pension plans are not in arrears, but are healthy and provide stable incomes that feed back into the local communities. Those plans are managed responsibly with participants and employers reacting yearly with changes that are needed for full funding.
But South Carolina legislators have made a conscious decision not to fully fund the plan on a regular basis, causing it to slip further and further into debt. For the state senator to use words like “bailout,” “obvious benefits on some,” and “recipients of government payments at the expense of the average taxpayer,” he shows unfair contempt for state employees and absolves his own legislative body of the blame it deserves.
Finally, for him to complain that state employees are lobbying his fellow legislators over their own pension plan is absurd. It is their own future they are trying to protect, and they are South Carolina residents.
Many good candidates take underpaid state jobs because they provide a good pension and benefits. Take those away and what is left?
Paul Macdonell
Hilton Head Island
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This story was originally published December 7, 2017 at 12:08 PM with the headline "Legislature shares blame on pension problem."