Charles Hovanesian

When the COLA was taken away I felt that I might, in some way assist the State in balancing the budget. After over ten years of doing without my C0LA I have come to the realization that the State of Rhode Island will never become fiscally responsible. When my wife passed away I immediately lost half of my income. If I had my COLA the impact of this terrible event would have been somewhat mitigated. Our COLA was negotiated by our union and how it could be taken away is beyond my comprehension. I thought our contract which was bargained in good faith was a "contract" but evidently I was mistaken. Our treasurer at the time along with our legislature decided that our pension and it's perks was the reason that the State was in such financial distress. It may have been part of it but certainly not the only reason. Taking away our COLA was probably greeted with inthusiasm by the general public. After all everyone knows State workers are lazy non productive parasites draining the coffers which is certainly not the case. In conclusion I do miss my COLA and with things the way they are now with inflation it is difficult to make ends meet with out it.

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