MONTPELIER, Vt. – Vermont’s teacher retirement system is about to become a huge financial headache for taxpayers.

The Vermont State Teachers’ Retirement System includes pension and other benefits like health care for retirees. State legislators have funded the pension portion of the system in recent years, but are falling behind on the health care portion by about $20 million a year, VtDigger.org reports.

Vermont State Treasurer Beth Pearce called the situation a “monster” at a recent state House Appropriations Committee Meeting. She said it’s costing taxpayers much more than necessary.

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“It’s like a mortgage: Instead of paying the full cost of retiree health care each year – roughly $25 million lately – the state is making a partial down payment of about $4.75 million and taking a mortgage on the rest,” the news site reports. “But the interest rate is very high.”

“By spreading it out, that $20 million will cost taxpayers $58 million,” Pearce told VtDigger.org.

That’s not exactly good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

The state’s teachers union, of course, believes the solution is simply to spend $20 million more on retired teachers, although that’s not very realistic considering the state is already projecting a $70 million budget shortfall by 2015, VtDigger.org reports.

Other solutions suggested by House Appropriations Committee members would be to reduce benefits paid out by the system, or to borrow the money, both of which Pearce dismissed as unfeasible long-term solutions.

The treasurer suggested the only real solution must come from taxpayers, the news site reports.

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“The bottom line is, taxpayers are going to have to ante up for our promises and our obligations,” she told the committee.

Placing more financial burden on the state’s residents, however, may provide state lawmakers and officials the most convenient way out of the mess, but it doesn’t address the root problem.

The inability to fund the teacher retirement system has less to do with the revenue lawmakers are dedicating to the fund than it does with the overly generous promises they made in the first place.

Perhaps the best, although less popular, solution would be to restructure the system to make it affordable for the taxpayers who support it. Even if the changes don’t immediately resolve the financial shortfall, they would show taxpayers their government is making strides toward a real solution, instead of simply demanding more money.

If taxpayers believe their legislative leaders are doing their part, they’d be much more likely to support new, temporary taxes to fix the system in the short term.