Letter to the Editor: Attention IPERS people

To the Editor:

It’s time for all individuals who are drawing their IPERS and those who are paying into IPERS to call their state Senator; Mike Breitbach can be reached at 563-920-7399.

Senate File SF45 (Google this) is a bill introduced in the Iowa Senate last session. It will be brought up again in the next session (2019). If this bill passes, it will end IPERS.

What the bill calls for is that on July 1, 2019 all new State, County, City, hospital and any other new public employees can opt out of paying into IPERS and do a 401K. This may sound good, but if they do not contribute to IPERS, IPERS will run out of funds to pay benefits which we have all contributed. Your IPERS monthly payment will be reduced or end altogether in time.

Breitbach’s party is pushing this change. This is being done under the table. They are not campaigning on this issue. This is the same party that did not campaign on the collective bargaining law two years ago and it was completely rewritten. We can’t trust that party here in Iowa.

Steve Paul
Waukon