The letter in this week’s local papers from the president of Park Ridge Firefighter’s IAFF Local 2697 begins: “Rarely is life fair and those least responsible for bad decisions are often those who pay most dearly.”

We agree. 

In this case, we have the unfairness of the firefighters agreeing to forego certain contractually-guaranteed benefits in order to help the City of Park Ridge through its current fiscal crisis, while at the same time the City’s Flood Control Task Force is endorsing a foolish $420,000 flood control rebate giveaway contrived by Seventh Ward Ald. Frank Wsol.

For those who have trouble connecting the dots, the money that the City could/should be paying toward the firefighters benefits previously agreed to by the City may end up going into the pockets of a couple hundred Park Ridge residents as partial reimbursement for the cost of flood control devices they voluntarily installed on their own property – and which actually may make flooding worse for their neighbors.

What’s “fair” about that?  What’s even “reasonable” about that?  Ask Ald. Wsol or Task Force chairman Joe Saccomanno.

Let’s not fool ourselves here: What the firefighters union did was not purely altruistic. Given the City’s sad-and-worsening financial situation, it looks like they may have chosen the benefit freeze to avoid more severe alternatives, like unpaid leave or lay-offs.  If so, enlightened self-interest may well have been the prime motivator for their action.

But the bottom line is that they are going to be taking less than what they are entitled to, while a relatively small number of residents will be getting more than they’re entitled to.  And, as Task Force member Gale Fabisch noted during that body’s July 15 meeting, most of the rebate payments will go to residents who already have installed their flood control systems rather than to those who might actually need a rebate “incentive” to install flood control devices which, we reiterate, may make flooding worse for their neighbors.

So unless residents of this community start whispering not-so-sweet somethings into the ears of their aldermen to keep them from jumping on this bandwagon because it’s the easy thing to do, $420,000 of much-needed tax money will be going to enrich those who really don’t need enriching. 

That’s not just unfair…it’s irresponsible.