This is in response to the Sun Journal article on the front page July 28 in which the pension system for state workers is referred to as a “ticking bomb.” The first paragraph stated, “Within a few years, the state’s ability to pay for its daily operations and invest in its future will be threatened by an obscure budget item that doesn’t pave a road, aid the needy, imprison a criminal or help a Maine kid pay for college.”

The reporter overlooked a very basic fact: Many of us — Maine’s public sector retirees — pay state income tax, federal income tax, sales tax, real estate taxes, automobile excise tax, gas tax and restaurant food tax, just to name a few. Directly or indirectly, we definitely help pay for this so-called obscure budget item. Let us also remember that retirees have contributed millions of dollars over the years to this fund, so a lot of it is our own money.

If it had not been for past inept elected officials, the problem would not exist today.

Richard Smith, Lewiston