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Pension Limits a Good Idea Milwaukee County taxpayers had every right to be furious when they found out a few years ago that county supervisors had unwittingly agreed to a lucrative pension-sweetening deal for county employees. But their anger would be even more justified if they thought county officials had not pursued every possible remedy, even at this late date. And that's precisely what Supervisor Roger Quindel, chairman of the County Board's Personnel Committee, has in mind. Quindel, interested in atoning for his vote on the pension deal, is wisely pushing for the county to try to enact reasonable pension limits to save taxpayers money and to save the jobs of vital county employees. The county would be both foolish and irresponsible not to seriously consider Quindel's proposal. While it's true that attempts to impose limits on lump-sum pension payouts would likely be challenged by unions and others in court, preliminary legal advice given the county - and Quindel and his committee - indicates that certain limits might be successfully defended in court. The lump-sum payouts, some of them amounting to more than $600,000, paid on top of regular monthly pension checks, have proved to be an irresistible incentive for many senior county employees to retire early. About 700 employees are expected to retire this year, requiring the county to pay out $54 million in lump sums, while depleting the county of seasoned employees. Quindel is encouraging county officials, including County Executive Scott Walker, to incorporate the limits he is talking about into the county's offer to county unions for new contracts. Walker, who has pushed for pension givebacks himself, should seriously weigh Quindel's advice. Quindel says, by the way, that he would not endorse any new union contracts without certain limits on lump-sum payouts. Considering Quindel's pro-labor leanings, that's an admirable stand. And just to make the record clear, Quindel is not proposing that the county take back any of the basic pension increases it agreed to. He's only talking about limits on the lump-sum payouts. That seems fair. "I want to make sure that even though our legacy is screwing up royally, we can say we did everything legally possible to correct it," Quindel said of the County Board. It's hard to argue with that. Who Are We ? | About THISDAYOnLine.com | THISDAY People | Contact Us © Copyright 2000 Leaders & Company Limited

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