State can solve much by fixing legislature

Practically everyone in Illinois is tired of the financial crunch the state is currently experiencing. Our governor thinks that extracting more money from the taxpayers is the only solution to the problem.

First, he raises the state income tax and now is proposing to reduce the amount of money the cities and villages receive from the state. The state legislature has already reduced the state funding for schools to far below the Illinois Constitution’s Article X Section 1: “The state has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education.”

I think the solution is within the state legislature itself. I propose we increase the term for the state representatives from two to four years. With only a two-year term, the representative spends one of those years campaigning. This would save money by decreasing the number of elections.

Next we should set term limits for both state representatives and state senators for two terms only. This would eliminate the need to provide pensions. If you are lucky enough to have a pension through your employer, you know that it requires five to eight years employment to become eligible to receive a pension.

This action might require a constitutional amendment but it would be worth the result.

What does this mean in savings? Fewer employees and legislators and their salaries and benefits; no pensions for legislators; new representatives every eight years, thus reducing the alliances formed that have in part created the “we can’t agree with each other” situation; and reduce the number of elections and the costs.

When a business is in financial trouble it reduces expenditures first. One of those expenditures is employee salaries. They don’t increase the price of their products to put their products’ price above their competitors’ prices.

Government is a big business — run it like one.

Linda D. Redmond

Elgin