Agrees that public employees pension reform is neccessary

I agree with your editorial concern regarding public employees receiving pensions equal to 100 percent of their salary with a cost of living allowance (COLA) while private companies may provide pensions in the range of 50 percent of an employee's salary, without a COLA.

There's been a clarion call for public pension reform for several years, primarily by former state Assemblyman Keith Richman.

Making speeches to any group interested in the state of California, Richman said there would be a day of reckoning when pensions are no longer sustainable and that day of reckoning has arrived.

Obviously, high pensions alone aren't responsible for the state's financial crisis, but they are a significant factor.

At the end of 2005, Ventura County had 100 retirees receiving pensions in excess of $100,000 a year. Currently, there are 200 retirees in that category, with four retirees receiving in excess of $200,000 a year with the top recipient receiving $220,272 or $18,356 a month.

Those pensions are so far beyond what would be considered reasonable to the average taxpayer, we can expect a revolt.

It's not just the cost of pensions in Ventura County that raises our concern, but in the state as well. The website Californiapensionreform.com lists more than 5,000 retirees in the CalPers (California Public Employee Retirement System) plan who receives in excess of $100,000 a year.

It's been a contest between public employee unions and taxpayers, and sadly for taxpayers, the unions have won. Jere Robings Thousand Oaks