Illinois needs Governor Walker’s assistance regarding public employee benefits and collective bargaining and to help straighten out the fiscal mess like he did in Wisconsin.
Many teachers in the state don’t pay anything toward their pension but can retire in their mid-fifties with annuities equal to 50 – 60% of their final pay, plus a 3% compounded cost of living increase each year.
Excerpt:
The (Illinois) state’s pension bill, which has quadrupled in five years, consumes all $7 billion of additional revenue from last year’s income and corporate tax hikes. Even so, the pension funds are projected to go bust in a decade.
The Chicago School district is $700M in the hole, but the teacher’s union still insists that its membership take a strike vote. The union wants more bargaining power “at the table” says the union president.
If the union continues to demand a 24% increases in pay for an extra hour of work, the “table” will be an autopsy gurney for the school district, the city of Chicago and the state.
The union also wants contract language to reduce class sizes, the old bargaining technique to increase dues paying members under the guise of we are “doing it for the kids.”
Bond rating agencies have threatened to lower the Illinois bond rating two notches if the state doesn’t do something about its pensions. The pensions are threatening the state’s entire fiscal structure.
Excerpt:
Illinois has a $9 billion backlog of unpaid bills—and squeezing local budgets, thereby making municipal defaults more likely. Mr. Emanuel is warning that retirement costs could drive up Chicago’s property taxes by 150% over the next three years and increase class sizes to 55 students.
Governor Quinn and the General Assembly have tried to increase public employees contributions to their pensions, or raise the retirement age by a couple of years, but the unions are threatening a lawsuit if lawmakers approve any reforms to their benefits.
They argue that reducing pensions for current workers and retirees is illegal and the plan is coercive. But state and federal courts have ruled that lawmakers can tweak benefits if necessary to protect public welfare. Minnesota and Colorado have defended their pension reductions on those grounds.
The legislature did not pass pension reform or any reduction in spending. Their solutions are either increases in taxes and fees or shifting state expenditures to the school districts and the community colleges.
This is about where Walker entered the fray in Wisconsin, but the voters in that state provided him with a majority in both houses to allow passage of the collective bargaining restrictions, save millions of dollars for school districts around the state and to turn a state deficit into a surplus in less than two years.
With the corruption in Illinois, even Governor Walker may be challenged.
Excerpt:
Lawmakers are way behind the voters on this one. By a three-to-one margin, voters favor reducing pension benefits over paying higher taxes.
#1 So Pension Plans compare to Job Descriptions and Pay scales? + Your Pension is calculated the same way for all is not + to paying everyone the same wages.
#2 Because I don’t whine about something doesn’t = I agree with it… IT’S CALLED PRIORITIES!.. Politician Pensions aren’t even a pimple on the butt of the problem you are ranting on…
#3 I don’t criticize Teachers…. or certainly not most all Teachers… State Employees never much commented on them. What I criticize is the total unreasonable logic applied to the taxpayer paid give-aways that are so out of line with everyone else in the community… + how Teachers ignore (or at least won’t admit to) the winning-lottery ticket size payday they recieve… Yet continue to bemoan how underpaid they are.
#4 And you are think with the State Billions of Doolars in debt you want the public outcry to be about $100\day plus expenses we pay politicians? How clueless is that lame talk?
Best you got?
wow! 1. yes all lawmakers receive the same compensation and they get paid the same amount of money so it is what you are always carping about you miss the point lawmakers get the same amount of money yet it is the sen majority and minority whip and the house speaker and minority leader who draw up the legislation who determines what lawmakers will vote on and how they will vote on party line and esp madigan nothing gets in the house without his ok so these four men make all the legislative decisions for the body (either house or senate) yet every lawmaker gets a nice check how does that work??
2. yet if pensions are the number one priority and it is how hypercritical is it to suggest teachers state employees take a cut yet if you serve one term you get a huge pension and until recently you get the cost of living increase) and you dont get your own house in order (i think that is why there was a revolution somewhere ) the elites the lawmakers can get a pension and a nice one yet they throw the union under the bus and although it is small it speaks volumes for the entitlement mentality they have among themselves
3. in terms of number you and ted compare private sector to public sector all the time where is the outcry that they get $100 a day plus expenses for not doing their job again its not the money it is the message they send out yet there is no outcry try calling severson or jefferson on this (we give the money to .. yet it cant be proven and the point is they should have never got it in the first place!!
4. it is the logic denny how can lawmakers criticize pensions yet they get a generous one for serving one term how can they criticize cola until last term they got cola? how can they criticize union workers yet they get paid extra if they dont do there job? it is out of line what everybody who is not
elected? 5. it is the perception in the state of illinois nothing gets done without the czar and now that it is overtime you need the minority party (it worked both ways when the gop was in power) yet for the average lawmaker they do nothing they are sheep they do what mikey and in both cases what the party leadership tells them why then do we need to vote for any lawmaker when they are robots what do they do that deserves a paycheck?? that is the point of this rant
I’ll check it out Readingmike94 – the “lucrative” legislative pensions but I might have to compare them again to the TRS. I think the legislators get the IMRF, but I’ll check – might be a good topic. Thanks.
Good points denny!
http://www2.illinois.gov/gov/sos/documents/editorials/editorial%2025.pdf
read this link from the chicago tribune talking about the pension benefits of lawmakers
General Assembly Retirement System
The General Assembly Retirement System was established in 1947.
A member is eligible to retire when they meet the following requirements:
•At age 55 with 8 years of credited service.
•At age 62 with 4 years of credited service.
General Assembly Retirement System $71.6 million 29.2 percent $245.2 million
I am just saying largest unfunded program it is funded at 29% and unfunded balance beats the teachers by almost 3 to 1 margin
you can look it up its not imrf they have their own retirement system as does the the judges retirement system did you know they (judges) make twice of what anybody else makes?
if you go online ted the evidence suggests it is the single largest unfunded pension system
General Assembly Retirement System
The General Assembly Retirement System was established in 1947.
A member is eligible to retire when they meet the following requirements:
•At age 55 with 8 years of credited service.
•At age 62 with 4 years of credited service.
wow denny no quick retort? (the tribune saw it the same way I did) to facts it is more than a pimple (more than any other retirement system in unfunded liability both in terms of % and in actual dollars) and ted will we see a column about this?
readingmike94, I have it in my stack of things to look into – if it’s what you are saying I will write a column. Since there are only a 177 legislators and fewer administrators, I think it might be a stretch to say that these pensions are more than the retirement systems – in actual dollars – to those of hundreds of thousand of public workers, but I will keep an open mind.
However, rereading the Chicago Tribune article, I see you are talking about more than just the legislators, but are including chicago alderman and other municipal employees. It still requires me to look at all the data. Thanks.
it is ted look into the info i presented in terms of unfunded liability it is more than any other system and it terms of % funded it is the smalles
t it has unfunded pension amounts more than twice any other system that receives print ie teachers, state employees
it is the biggest secret the general assembly retirement system
it plays right into conservative’s hand since when was being an elected official deserving of a retirement system? lawmakers were never intended to serve years upon years yet they do it was to be a way of returning something back to the country i do admire school board officials they get no pay and alot of grief state legislature members not so much