Fire-Rescue Benefits

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Letter to the Editor
Palm Beach Post
THOMAS KEATING
Lake Worth

Blame not vital; renegotiating fire-rescue benefits is

Regarding the editorial, "Best response: Cut salaries": Don't Blame Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue employees for the high salaries and pensions their unions were able to negotiate when the tax rolls were booming. They perform a valuable service and should be well-compensated for doing what many others could not.

But the real estate party is over, and the county is now saddled with an unsustainable $316 million fire-rescue budget to fund these bloated salaries and pensions that clearly rocketed far too high in a few short years. Regardless of whether our county commissioners or the union negotiators are more to blame for this debacle, the more important question is how quickly these contracts can be renegotiated back down to more sensible, sustainable levels. If it doesn't happen soon, taxpayers will be whacked again by yet another special property tax to fund boom-time salaries and pensions the county no longer can afford.