The cure to what ails you

Within the last week or two I developed a deep fear of my own mailbox. Every time I get close to this postal portal I feel faint and break out in a cold sweat. You guessed it; I received my Kane County property tax bill recently. The main cause of the illness is simple: government pensions, pensions, benefits and more pensions.

The disease is known as inflated benefit gluttony, or IBG. Fortunately, the doctors at Americans for Prosperity have a cure, but the catch is we need our local lawmakers to administer the medication. We need to petition these lawmakers to lessen the ever-escalating costs of government by asking them to initiate the following two guidelines.

One, give new employees the choice of either defined contribution plan or reformed define benefit plan that was enacted in spring of 2010. And secondly, set future state contributions to pension plans at half of “Normal Cost” which is the cost of annual pension accrual of reformed defined benefit plan.

Employees would pay any additional costs associated with the plan they choose.

The state of Illinois needs to act immediately before this financial vise succeeds in draining the very life blood from an already drained tax base. Many Illinois taxpayers, yours truly included, cannot contribute to their own pensions and arrangements for retirement because we simply can no longer afford it. Instead, our cash is tied up funding someone else’s Cadillac benefit plan. Hardly seems fair doesn’t it?

Please contact your local state representative today to express your concerns. Remember any and all taxpayers run the risk of IBG, inflated benefit gluttony, so act now to ensure your financial health.

Al Schroeder Jr.

Elgin