Culver City Observer -

Dear Editor,

It is unfortunate that the Culver City Council's only answer to rising pension costs is to again tax the City's residents. Other cities have found solutions that do not require raising taxes.

In fact, if the City is granting large salaries and pension largesse to attract the best talent, then that talent might be asked to share the load: What if they had to lose their jobs in cutbacks instead of more taxes? Would a City employee toss some of his earnings and cut his pension in order to keep it? Certainly worth exploring.

And, at the risk of becoming a pariah here, why not simply BK the entire City? None of our services would be at risk. The entire BK would simply revolve around the rejection of the executory pension plans and replace it with a negotiated settlement in reorganization. This would give a break to the many citizens here living on the edge of their salaries due to our higher taxes.

So my vote is NO NEW TAXES. Raising taxes is the [solution] of the politician who doesn't know how to manage money.

Mark Salkin

Culver City