What if, during your vital middle age years, you could walk away from your job but continue collecting your entire annual salary as a pension until the day you die?

No one gets such a deal, you might say.

And you would be wrong, for this is exactly the pension package that awaits County Councilman Vince Gardina when he leaves office next December.

Gardina's formidable political survival skills have given him an unprecedented five, four-year terms on the council. That's 20 years, and county law says he is entitled to one-20th of his current $54,000 salary as his annual pension for each year he serves on council.

Gardina, 54, is benefiting from a change in the law made back when he was probably in nursery school.

This pension system was put in place when the county switched from a county commissioner style of government to a county executive and County Council format in the 1950s.

Back then, it's likely no one imagined that a council member would one day serve five straight terms.

County budget officials say the amount Gardina will collect is a statistically insignificant part of the county's $1.7 billion pension fund pool. It should also be noted that council members pay a hefty amount into the pension plan -- 14 percent of their annual salary.

Still, the end result is the kind of thing that invites taxpayer resentment.

With the exception of Council President Joe Bartenfelder, members of the council have been mum about the issue.

Ten years ago, Bartenfelder proposed to change the law to cap pensions at 60 percent, but he said the proposal was all but ignored.

Bartenfelder has again discussed the possibility of capping council pensions at 60 percent of salary, not the current 100 percent, no matter how long a council member serves.

This proposal deserves support.

Six of the current seven members, including Gardina, were part of the council when Bartenfelder attempted a cap in 1999.

Four council members -- Sam Moxley, Kevin Kamenetz, Bryan McIntire and Bartenfelder -- are now in their fourth terms, and would get 80 percent pensions if they leave office after their current term.

All of the council members can fairly say they had no role in creating the pension plan as it currently exists.

But now that it's front and center in the eyes of the public, council members can certainly have a role in pension reform.

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