Again, St. Louis City political leaders are misleading its citizens with rhetoric about the need to control firefighter pensions so the city can balance its budget.

The problem is not firefighter pensions. The problem is abysmal fiscal management by city leaders.

Like police, firefighters only have their pensions at retirement. They do not get Social Security.

Like police, firefighters contribute to their pensions; 7 percent and 8 percent of pay respectively.

Like police, firefighters could earn higher salaries in nearby communities. They look to their pensions as a partial equalizer.

Like police, the firefighter pension system has a history of being ignored by the city. From 1992 through 2002, the city contributed nothing to the police pension system. A private employer with a comparable number of employees during that period would have had to contribute, at a minimum, nearly $50 million in Social Security and Medicare payments, but the city contributed nothing.

The courts have ordered that the police pension system must be made whole; the city must pay the money it held back. Don't blame the pension systems; blame city mismanagement.

Eighteen months ago, the state auditor found serious monetary discrepancies and procedural inefficiencies and determined the city had grossly mismanaged most of its departments, including the Department of Public Safety, which controls the Fire Department.

Instead of addressing these problems, the city is proposing furloughs; health benefit cuts; cuts in overtime, sick leave, vacation time, shift and holiday differential; layoffs; and "modifications to the firefighters pension system" — all targeting the average employee.

What about the city's top-heavy management? Where are their cuts? Why do we need 39 elected city officials when other cities our size are managed with far fewer? Why do we continue to prop up a system that "grossly mismanaged" most of its departments?

The city pins a target on "controlling pension costs" in the hopes that its citizens will focus there instead of mismanagement by elected officials.

Pension systems are legally (per the courts), morally (per employee contribution) and ethically a benefit to those who have and who will continue to put their lives on the line. The city needs to reset its sights.

Tom Walsh •  President, St. Louis Police Officers Association