I noticed an ad in the newspaper Sunday for a legislative human resources director that stated the state’s share of retirement is 17.07 percent of the employee’s gross pay. The pay scale for this position is between $69,000 and $83,000, which means that taxpayers will be paying an additional $11,778 to $14,168 into this one employee’s retirement fund per year. It is no wonder we have budget problems in this state. Are legislators, the governor, department commissioners included in this type of windfall? Is that why no one has done anything to protect taxpayer cost? Why are not all state employees, including our elected officials, treated equally as are those under Social Security? Is this why the state has not paid its fair share into the retirement system and has taken COLA away from state retirees trying to get by on a fixed income?

If legislators are involved in this windfall, the public should know. Everyone who contributes should be treated the same and receive according to what they put in — not what position they hold — and everyone should have the same percentage of taxpayer contributions.

Rest assured that anyone running for office in this state should be prepared to answer these questions in the next election. Our politicians have bragged about fixing the Maine Public Employees Retirement System; looks like they have a long way to go to have equality for all state employees. We will probably not get straight answers from our elected officials; looks like we need some good old-fashioned investigative reporting done. They could start by asking why the Legislature needs its own human resources director in the first place.

Davy Crockett

Augusta