As the City of Houston stares down ever expanding pension obligations, many in the private sector show little sympathy.

Most private sector employees have not had access to pensions for years. Even for those that have, the vesting standards have greatly increased and many are laid off just before qualifying. The private sector is dominated by 401K’s as retirement plans that place the responsibility of retirement planning squarely on the shoulder of the individual employee. They must agree to put as little or as much money into their plan as they so choose.

As many begin to see the light at the end of the working tunnel, they quickly realize that they have not saved enough money to have a quality retirement. This makes them even less sympathetic to what they perceive as the “extraordinary” and “old-fashioned” pension plans in the public sector.

How did we get here in the first place? It has always been viewed that people who put their lives on the line for the public safety of our citizens deserve rewards. And yet, public sector jobs for Police Officers and Fire Fighters do not pay very well. Pension plans were originally modeled after the private sector and designed to reward our public safety and city employees for their dedicated careers in public service. It is true that some may live better in retirement than they earned on the job. It is also true that any Police Officer who survives 20 years on the force or Fire Fighter who has fought fires for 20 years or more, deserves respect and fair treatment.

However, what has now happened is that the plans established for our fine public sector employees are out of step with the trends in the marketplace. The bigger problem, however, is that the plans are out of sync with public sector budgets. Even if people support and believe in the pension plans for public employees, the question we will face is if we are willing to pay more taxes to meet the obligations. Will we?

And, even if we are willing to sustain these obligations, how high will taxes have to go to pay the bills?

Personally, I’m a fan of public sector employees and a big fan of Police and Fire employees who protect us. I also recognize that budget issues have stretched these employees to the degree that they have to prioritize which crimes to investigate and whether or not to send fire trucks to accident scenes.

There must be a solution that properly respects the service of our public employees while it creates fiscal responsibility for the citizens.