Tip of iceberg on state pension issue

In its April 2 editorial the Herald rightly warned of the impending police and firemen's pension shortfall that will impact taxpayers negatively over the coming years.

However, this is a minor problem compared to the shortfall in the state pension funds, which include K-12 teachers, university teachers, state employees, judges and state politicians.

State actuaries estimate the taxpayer cost for these publicly funded pensions at over $300 billion over the next 38 years. And that's only if investment returns average 8.5 percent per year, a number that may not be possible going forward.

Any shortage in that return estimate would have to be paid by the taxpayer.

And that $300 billion does not include the state-funded health insurance for 150,000 retirees, which was $700 million in 2006 growing at double a digit rate.

This could add another $100 billion to the taxpayer cost over the same period.

So taxpayers are looking at an average of $10 billion a year over the next 38 years for state pensions not including the tab for municipal pensions. And every dollar paid by taxpayers for others pensions is a dollar they do not have for their own retirement.

The reason the state-funded pensions are an even bigger problem is because there are so many more teachers and state workers than there are police and firemen.

For example in Mundelein there are fewer than 100 police and firemen with only a few making over $100,000 a year. The public schools in Mundelein (Districts 75, 76 and 120) have over 450 employees with 36 making over $100,000 a year.

So hat's off to Gurnee Mayor Kovarik and the Herald for bringing this matter to the public's attention.

The question is really this: Why do the taxpayers have to pay for better pensions for public employees than they can reasonably expect for their own retirement?

Bill Zettler

Mundelein