Let residents vote on pension shift

So Gov. Quinn and Boss Madigan want to dump the cost of school pensions onto homeowners. These guys are going to tax people right out of their own homes if this isn’t stopped. If the state can’t keep up with the cost of an ever-growing pension obligation, what makes them think the local school districts can absorb these costs? So before anyone dumps these pension obligations onto the homeowners, I think the residents deserve a direct voice in the process, the right to vote on whether they would be willing to pick up the state’s obligations.

Each school district is unique. So each school district this measure would affect should have a binding referendum on the ballot clearly informing the residents of all the issues facing each district and the cost to each homeowner. This should be required before any vote to transfer pension obligations onto homeowners is taken.

Tom Ploski

Mount Prospect