State Workers Are Not At Fault

Regarding the Sept. 14 editorial, “Labor Needs to Step Up”:

Why does the state with the highest per capita income keep coming back to labor to resolve its budget shortfalls?

The unfunded pension liability is not the fault of state workers. They have been paying into the pension fund all along. In contrast, state leaders put off annual contributions between 1939 and 1979, forfeiting potential investment gains. That failure created the unfunded liability.

Pension financing arranged by Gov. John G. Rowland required rapidly increasing balloon payments until 2032. But in 2016, an agreement was approved by the General Assembly to re-amortize part of the debt over 30 years to make payments flat and affordable.

Connecticut’s financial problems can’t be solved by defaulting on pension debt. The loss of higher-paying jobs has depleted the tax base, and consumer spending is held in check by stagnant wage growth. Wealth is growing but not reaching the hands of consumers.

To put the state back on course for economic expansion, we must raise wages.

William Buhler, Cromwell