Towns have a duty to pension reform
After reading the reaction to the Daily Herald's recent article and editorial on local officials' concerns with public safety pension funding, I must respond on behalf of our 47 municipalities and three townships representing over 1.3 million residents.
I find the letter from Mr. Devaney of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, in particular, curious in its criticism of our "angst."
Our mayors and elected officials recognize that the pension issue is a serious concern for all taxpayers and should be congratulated for being proactive in addressing it now rather than passing the problem on to future generations.
Again, let us be clear. It is not, nor has it ever been, our intention to cut, reduce or in any way diminish existing pension benefits received by our hard-working police and firefighters.
Our efforts are focused upon ensuring that municipalities are fiscally able to provide for these retirement obligations.
The NWMC has proposed three solutions. On one, both the NWMC and AFFI agree that police and firefighter pension funds should have greater ability to maximize returns on their investments.
The AFFI appears to agree with our second proposal that pension reforms are needed. The NWMC strongly believes that greater accountability and transparency, enhanced ethics and improved state oversight are necessary to ensure that all pension funds are managed with the interests of employees and taxpayers first and foremost.
Where we differ from AFFI on pension reform centers on who determines the taxpayer's annual contribution to these funds.
AFFI believes the pension boards, on which the majority of members represent current and future pensioners, should make that determination. We believe the officials who are elected to represent the interests of the entire municipality must continue to have that authority.
Our final proposal is a moratorium on additional pension benefit increases. Mr. Devaney's letter states that "Our job is to keep the taxpayers safe from harm. And we intend to do that on as many levels as we deem necessary."
Our police and firefighters do an excellent job of keeping our residents safe from harm. However, we fail to understand on what level firefighter pension and benefit increases approved in 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 have kept taxpayers safe from fiscal harm.
After all of these increases, our taxpayers deserve and need a moratorium.
The reality we are facing is that the funded balances of nearly all municipal police and firefighter pension funds continue to decline despite significant increases in the taxpayer contribution.
Our municipalities are working to correct the situation and ensure that they are able to provide the full retirement benefits that have been earned.
Rather than criticizing or questioning our motives, we would hope that the police and firefighter rank and file would stand together with our elected officials to support meaningful legislation that protects both their pensions and the interests of the taxpayers who help fund them.
Mark L. Fowler
Executive Director
Northwest Municipal
Conference
Des Plaines