Think of them as gold-plated, bulletproof and tamper-proof pension plans. The retirement benefits enjoyed by the Island’s public sector employees are generous, enviable and, given a stubbornly sluggish economy and diminished tax base, wholly unsustainable.

Simply put, the unfunded shortfall for Bermuda’s various public sector pension plans now stands somewhere in the region of $1 billion (the Spending & Government Efficiency Commission estimates it could be as much as $3 billion in a few years). Government, as ultimate guarantor of the benefits paid under them, has to make up these losses.

At the time of the last independent review of the relevant figures in 2010, the funded ratio of these pensions stood at 33 per cent. Meaning there was just $33 in the Bermuda Superannuation Fund for every $100 owed to retirees. The remaining $66 came out of taxpayers’ pockets. The situation will only have grown worse since then.

For one thing, Government effectively “borrowed” $65 million from the pension fund to plug a hole in the 2012/13 budget, a move which in and of itself reduced the funded ratio to somewhere in the region of 30 per cent.

For another, returns on investments have remained largely stagnant in the intervening years while ever greater numbers of people have retired — and are living longer.

So the pool of beneficiaries will have increased significantly while the affordability of maintaining their benefits over the long-term has been placed increasingly out of reach.

But despite the staggering size of these liabilities, the burdens they impose on the Bermuda taxpayer rarely make headlines.

They go even more rarely remarked on by public sector unions during standoffs such as the past week’s confrontation with Government over proposed cuts intended to restore some measure of equilibrium (and sanity) to Bermuda’s finances.

The unions regard pension benefits as inviolable and non-negotiable.

But the existing model is already unviable and will only become increasingly more expensive to maintain with the passage of time.

As more and more public sector employees continue to retire, millions of additional dollars will have to be found each year to pay for their benefits. Bermuda’s declining birth rate combined with a contracting economic base means these costs will continue to fall upon the shoulders of a decreasing number of residents in the workforce.

The vast majority of those expected to foot the bill for the public service pension liability will, of course, be private sector employees, many of whom lack any but the most rudimentary retirement plans of their own.

The fact Bermuda’s civil servants enjoy vastly more attractive retirement benefits than the bulk of the taxpayers who pay for them has already created resentment.

That annoyance will only become more pronounced as the shortfalls grow — along with the demands placed on taxpayers’ wallets.

The extravagant pension provisions enjoyed by Bermuda’s blue and white-collar public sector employees are a legacy of the economic boom years which began in the 1980s and only came to an abrupt end in 2008.

But even as the Island luxuriated in that long period of historically unprecedented prosperity, the long-term sustainability of the public sector pension system was routinely questioned by some of the wiser, more economically literate heads among us.

Their warnings went ignored by successive, cash-flush Governments which never put off until tomorrow what they believed could be put off until the day after tomorrow.

So the demands made by public sector unions during collective bargaining negotiations, no matter how costly they were likely to be over time, were repeatedly indulged.

Of course, during that time of plenty, long-range planning was never a strong suit of strike-averse United Bermuda Party and Progressive Labour administrations which tended to be entirely more fixated on whatever short-term disruptions public sector work stoppages would cause.

Now, of course, we have reached a point where fanciful union demands can no longer be routinely rubber-stamped by Government. Nor can tough decisions be avoided any longer.

So far, even proposals for changes to pension benefits affecting only future employees have been fiercely resisted by public sector unions.

But maintaining the status quo is no longer an option and the unions need to demonstrate some much-needed flexibility on this point.

Otherwise Government should be prepared to defy union resistance to sensible suggestions for pension plan reforms, reforms which must by necessity reflect the Island’s current fiscal realities. The gold plating is a luxury we can simply no longer afford.