Arizona city officials faced an important decision on Wednesday June 21 to determine the future of the city’s budget. With the dramatic increase of the total pension owed to public service workers—the numbers went from $56 million in 2007 to $207 million according to Dustin Gardiner from The Republic—a plan had to be implemented quickly to stifle the effects of the debt. Without creating a financial relief regarding the total amount of pensions owed, the city would have had to make major cut backs for other public services such as libraries or public pools.

The city manager, Ed Zuercher, proposed a plan to increase the amount of time to pay off the pensions from 20 years to 30 years. He equated it to refinancing a loan. While this will relieve the budget crisis now, some members fear that the long-term effects will leave them worse off than ever. With the extended payment plan, the city looks at increasing the amount of interest to $2.3 billion. Nonetheless, this past Wednesday the 7 to 2 vote approved the plan. This financial plan still awaits final approval from the state Public Safety Personnel Retirement System Board of Trustees which will be determined on June 28. Zuercher did suggest that the city put aside all the money that they would be saving from the cutback on immediate pension payments in order to help them pay off the debt sooner than 30 years, thereby relieving some of the stress from the increased interest.

The plan faces criticism from many opponents who believe that putting off the debt to a later date will only cause more issues for them down the road. However, other members supported the move because they believed that while it wasn’t an ideal situation, it was a plan that considered everyone’s best interests.