Furlough flap hides the real issue

Illinois' unsustainable pension system turns up as the villain of the state's budget crisis so often it should get its own comic book persona.

In the latest installment, the system figures into Gov. Pat Quinn's change of mind on making some state employees take 24 unpaid furlough days between now and next June 30 to cut our state's out-of-control budget.

The reason for the about-face? In reducing pay, the furloughs would have cut into the employees' future pensions, which max out at 75 percent of the average salary of someone who's had a 44-year state career.

Now, the furlough days will bring little if any savings, since employees can use paid vacation or personal days for all of them.

We're not an unequivocal fan of Quinn's furlough plan, coming as it did right after disclosures that he'd given raises averaging 11.4 percent to 35 staffers in his own office. The furloughs amounted to a 9.6 percent pay cut and applied to just 2,700 nonunion employees of the state, which hardly seems like the most equitable way to share the pain.

But, exasperating as it is, the furlough flap points to a deeper issue - the astronomical costs of the state's pension system.

Without finding a way to reduce pension costs, Illinois has little hope of getting state finances under control.

If you think the $13 billion Illinois deficit is stunning, take a look at this billion-with-a-b number: $80 billion, the amount Illinois owes its pension funds for benefits promised to future retirees.

It's time to bring state retirement benefits down to earth. Changes enacted in April for future employees are a good start, but won't bring substantial savings until those employees retire decades from now. Among those changes: higher retirement ages, caps on salary amounts eligible for benefits, less generous cost-of-living increases.

Civic groups increasingly argue for similar changes in retirement benefits for current state employees. We agree, as long as they're calculated to least affect those closest to retirement and are done in a way that does not run afoul of the state Constitution, a point that might ultimately be resolved in court - but which must be resolved.

Quinn's on again, off again furlough program would have saved Illinois citizens $18 million. Pension benefits cost Illinois and its pension systems about $10 billion a year. This week, the pension funds began selling off assets to pay benefits.

We've had years of our state leaders shuffling the budget deck to wring savings out of schools, social services, health programs and more.

It's time to quit ignoring the route to real savings.