In the story “Political division emerges over teacher retirement costs” (Local & State Dispatches, Page C3, March 26), the first sentence is: “The Maine House and Senate are divided over a bill that would shift the full burden for teacher retirement costs onto the state.”
This sentence, with its use of the phrase “full burden,” is very misleading, as it implies that the government funds all teacher retirement costs.
The truth is that half of the teacher retirement costs are contributed by the individual employees themselves as deductions from each and every paycheck they have received over the entire terms of their employment in the state.
In addition, each employee pays state income tax on the amount that is contributed to the Maine Public Employees Retirement System. It is not deducted pre-tax, as a 401(k) contribution would be.
The bill in question actually refers to the “matching funds” that the state used to commit to the retirement benefits of employees and recently pushed down to the municipal budgets.
I have seen this same misleading statement in a previous article.
For the benefit of everyone’s understanding, I urge you to give an accurate description of how the Maine Public Employees Retirement System is funded.
Jill Blackwood
South Portland
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