Pensions + legal fees = higher cost in end
Dear Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno:
The current rhetoric regarding public employee retirement plans is counterproductive and inaccurate. As a public employee who is eligible for the state’s retirement plan, I am willing to be “part of the solution.”
I realize the state is in a financial bind and I am willing to accept a lower retirement annuity if that decrease is fairly and properly negotiated. However, my willingness to be “part of the solution” is undermined by media disinformation, which our legislators have failed to correct.
I accepted my employment terms, including the retirement plan, in good faith. Social Security was not, and is not, an option for me. Every month 8 percent of my paycheck is deducted and applied toward my retirement annuity in the state’s retirement system. This is a mandatory deduction used to finance state employee retirements.
The contributions and benefits are comparable to private sector agreements; 6.2 percent deducted for Social Security plus the average industry matching contribution to employee 401(k)s.
For decades, the state of Illinois has failed to make its contribution to the retirement fund as promised, Forty years ago, citizens realized that the state would be tempted to withhold contributions and use the revenue elsewhere. To counteract this temptation, voters approved the Illinois Constitution in 1970, stipulating in Article XIII, Section 5, that each state pension plan is “an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”
The battle over state obligations is now being waged in the media. Rather than addressing this situation responsibly, legislators and public opinion shapers are driving the state into a costly and protracted legal battle. If the battle goes to the Illinois Supreme Court and Article XIII, Section 5, in the Constitution is upheld, all of us who are taxpayers will be required to pay — not only for our contractual obligations, but for a legal battle that could have been avoided.
Linda O’Neill
North Aurora