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John I have to give you credit for finally broaching the subject that the retired employees need to be part of the pension reform equation.

I would hope that you agree and provide the necessary coverage in your paper of the fact that we need to discuss the cost of retired healthcare benefits (OPEB) which still are 100% paid for by taxpayers.

This is something that I did when I wrote a by-weekly column called "THE TAXPAYERS SPIN" for your paper. You however pulled my column because you characterized my factual accounts on this topic as “bashing” Mayor Avedisian.

Now I, as well as others, are refered to as "Crazies" by Mayor Avedisian. There's a lot of class being display by our MAYOR!

Suspending COLA payments isn’t on par with actually reducing retiree pension payments. What it is doing is cutting future increases so that the funds can become better funded and reduce the future amount of tax dollars needed. Isn’t this better then what occurred in Central Falls where actual benefit payments were cut because the city went broke?

Providence already enacted these changes. Cranston iand West Warwick are discussing the same with its retired employees.

Mayor Avedisian and most of the City Council believe this talk is equivalent to sacrilege. They are scared to death of even considering this.

It's interesting that this administration agrees that the city couldn't afford to make COLA payments for the next three years and took it out on the current employees by freezing their wages. This was a foolish agreement made by the Warwick union leaders when retired employees in Police II and Fire II are in fact receiving a 3% compounded raise over the next three years while the rank and file get no raises.

Didn’t we finished the year with a $2.2 million surplus?

If we can’t afford to pay COLA benefits for retired workers at 3% per year, tell me how, as was indicated in the presentation by the ACTUARIAL EXPERT, can the city taxpayers in this city can afford to make 3.75% compounded increase to the Police/Fire I pension plan over the next 20 years.

The fact that the Mayor refuses to perform the necessary analysis to determine if the numbers add up is telling. If he is so confident that these funding plans will work, prove it. Build an expanse model base don reasonable assumptions of growth for the next 5, 10 and 15 years to forecast what the necessary revenue stream will be required. Determine if the taxes can be raiased to support this spending.

Keep in mind if we produce a long range plan for consistent property tax increase MET LIFE won't be the only one leaving town.

I will be the first one lined up at the microphone in city hall proclaiming for all to hear that I was wrong if these numbers add up.