In state capitals and cities, both large and small, financial realities can no longer be ignored. A quote by Nobel prize-winning physicist Sir Ernest Rutherford sums up the situation — “Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It is time to start thinking.”

Thinking — and action — is now happening after decades of kicking the can down the road when it comes to the costs of public-sector workers’ pensions, health care costs and other perks.

Politicians are not alone in thinking about the financial crises posed by public-sector benefit costs. Taxpayers and voters are becoming aware of the crisis and are saying change is needed. Public-sector workers’ early retirement options and generous pensions, and often-free health care for life, are seen as unfair.

Last month, voters in two California cities, San Diego and San Jose, approved cuts to the pension benefits of city workers. The measures approved by voters call for reducing benefits for new hires and also cutting pensions for current city workers.

At about the same time, the city of Stockton, Calif., became the largest U.S. municipality to file for bankruptcy protection. In Stockton, as in San Jose and San Diego, the burden of pensions and health benefits was a key factor in the city’s default. Bob Deis, Stockton’s city manager, characterized public-sector benefits as a “Ponzi scheme” that pushed the city over the financial edge.

In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat who served in the Obama White House, wants to stop automatic cost-of-living increases to retired city workers. Emanuel was featured in a Wall Street Journal article for his plan to privatize some city services to save taxpayers’ money.

Emanuel championed competitive bidding for the city’s recycling program, and the competition with private companies forced city workers to reduce their costs by 35 percent, saving Chicago $2 million in six months.

Despite his Democratic DNA suggesting close ties to organized labor, Emanuel now is siding with taxpayers and citizens, telling public-sector unions that the city has no more money and it’s time to try new, less-costly ways of doing things.

Public-sector pension obligations and health benefits with little or no employee contributions are becoming unbearable burdens for taxpayers across the country. Beyond the costs, the public sees unfairness in rules that allow public employees to retire early — in their 40s or 50s, and with a pension. It’s an unsustainable system and must change.

Despite universal respect for the important and sometimes dangerous work that firefighters and police officers do, there is little support for the common early retirement practice of “25 and out.” Such programs, offering retirement after 25 years of service with a pension and free health care, are unfair to taxpayers.

In some cases, police or fire employees can retire after just 20 years with those benefits. The math does not work, and taxpayers expect the practice to end.

If the physical demands of police or fire work are a factor as a public safety worker ages, the employees should be shifted to other jobs and be required to work until 65, like private-sector workers. Retirement after 25, or even 20, years, followed by 30 years of taxpayer-funded pension and health care benefits cannot continue.

Beyond the unfairness of these deals, the public is rightfully outraged at stories of public-sector workers loading up overtime hours in the final years before retirment to boost their pension checks. This “pension spiking” is being exposed and must end.

Likewise, there’s the absurdity of public safety employees retiring and cashing in unused vacation or sick pay, sometimes for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Public-sector unions are fightnig back, claiming these efforts are attempts to break the unions. But in most cases it’s more about putting a brake on the costs of unreasonable, greedy practices.

From Wisconsin and New Jersey to California, New York and Illinois, politicians, both Republican and Democrat, are demanding reforms to public-sector contracts that have pushed taxpayers to the brink.

It’s about time.