A group of former county commission chairmen have banded together to speak up against the possibility of the current county commission adopting a defined benefit pension plan.

The chairmen, in a letter to the editor on Page A4, said the plan is a bad idea that would cost taxpayers “millions of dollars” and questions how the plan would be funded.

The letter is signed by former commission chairmen Greg Dunn, Harold Bost, Rick Price, Steve Wallace, George Patton and Jerry Barronton. Most recently, these men co-authored a letter critical of the current commission parting ways with long-time County Attorney Bill McNally.

Payments under defined benefit plans usually are funded completely by the employer and the amount usually is linked to a percentage of the employee’s salary with other factors taken into account such as years of service, wages and/or age.

Dunn, in a phone interview Monday afternoon, said previous commissions have improved benefits for county employees over the years, but a defined benefit pension plan is far too expensive for a county the size of Fayette.

Dunn said the chairmen have resolved they would never agree to the county adopting any type of defined benefit pension program.

“It’ll put too much of a burden on the taxpayers,” Dunn said. “We will always oppose it.”

Dunn questions whether the taxpayers’ needs are being taken to heart since the committee that was set up to study the possibility of using a defined pension consists almost entirely of county employees who could take advantage of it immediately because of their long-standing employment with the county.

The committee includes attorney John Kimball along with Water Director Tony Parrott, Personnel Director Connie Boehnke, Sheriff Randall Johnson and Finance Director Mary Holland.

Dunn said when he was on the commission he got considerable pressure to adopt a defined benefit pension for employees.

Dunn said the county has built up a $40 million fund of cash that’s used to pay for capital projects instead of financing them, such as the nearly completed senior citizens center. The money is also available for use in case of emergencies, and although the damage was limited, Dunn noted that the county has been hit by two tornadoes in the past several years.

Dunn said said he’d hate to see that money used for a defined pension program, as the federal government would require the county to set aside funds to cover the pension benefits.

Dunn also said he didn’t see how the commission could adopt such a plan for county employees when Delta employees and others in the community have lost their defined benefit pension plans.

Dunn, along with the other chairmen, also question the involvement of former county commissioner Scott Burrell, who is also on the committee although he is president of Pacific General Financial in Fayetteville, an insurance and financial services firm.

Burrell told The Citizen recently that he is not looking to gain personally by participating on the committee.

“I don’t even do government pensions,” Burrell said. “I just want to make sure the county’s employees have the best benefits possible.”

Dunn pointed out that the county currently gives all employees a retirement contribution to a 401(k) plan equivalent to 4 percent of their salary, and by taking advantage of another tax deferment retirement plan by their own election, employees can save up to 16 percent of their annual salary for retirement purposes.

“It’s not a defined benefit plan, but it’s pretty generous,” Dunn said.

As to Burrell’s claim that the county is losing money due to employee turnover, Dunn said he looked at the turnover rates every year, and Fayette’s figures were similar to those of other jurisdictions. In fact, because many of Fayette’s employees have served so long, it creates a logjam that prevents other employees from advancing as quickly as they’d like. That need for career advancement is one of the many reasons an employee decides to leave Fayette, Dunn said.

Dunn said the chairmen’s stance on a possible defined benefit pension is not a rally against county employees, many of whom he said are “great.” Nor is it about sour grapes from being voted out of office, Dunn added.

“You’re going to hear from us only if we think it’s something outrageous,” Dunn said. “... We’re all concerned. We hope people will listen.”

In this case, the county commission is on the threshold of making a major mistake that will cost taxpayers dearly, Dunn said, noting that other governments have had major trouble due to their defined benefit pension plans. Some other governments, including the city of Atlanta, have had to use bond financing just to meet their pension payment obligations, Dunn added.

The chairmen, who have been meeting with each other, will speak up when necessary although they don’t plan to take issue with matters where they simply don’t agree with the decision of the current commission, Dunn added.