Comments about ‘Utah Legislature: Retirement system in dire need of overhaul, says Sen. Dan Liljenquist’

Lilenquist appears to have all the answers - so why even have a discussion. Just annoint Lilenquist king and let him deal with it all.

His idea is that once a public employee retires - if they ever return to work their pension will be suspended goes too far. It is more reasonable to take the position that if an employee returns to work they will not earn additional retirement benefits but will continue to draw their pension.

And, Lilenquist makes no distinction between a 50 year old wanting to return to work and a 60, 65 or even 70 year old wanting to return to work. It appears he has not thought things through very well.

Sen. Liljenquist comments cause concern in the discussion of public employee pension. Where is the Utah Retirement System (one of the best fund managers in the U.S.) during this discussion? I haven’t heard once from the managers of this fund on what they would like to see done for the plan. Other states and government entities would trade in a heartbeat to be in our situation. Rather than have one legislator speak (that only has one year experience in the legislator) on his personal opinion (He is currently employed as a manager of a telemarketing call center), should we not have experts in the field of pensions speak on this matter? All business people should know that before making any drastic changes to your business plan, you should have an expert consult assist you in your decision making. Why this legislator is pushing for change? Is it to make a name for himself to run for another office or is he looking out for the best interest of public employees and tax payers.