Opinion

Constitution change needed to fix pensions

Posted August 13, 2015 1:00 am

Our state and Chicago, and you can add Cook County, are clearly sinking and have gotten so far in debt that it seems clear no leader can move to save us from bankruptcy until there is a constitutional amendment deleting the crazy following paragraph from our Illinois Constitution:

Article XIII General Provision SECTION 5. PENSION AND RETIREMENT RIGHTS "Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired."

This article is nice in theory but clearly unsustainable in reality.

Increasing taxes just serves to make Illinois even more uncompetitive. Already nobody really wants to lend us money unless we overpay interest and that just keeps making a bad situation worse. Ditto for vendors who no longer will compete for state, county or municipal business.

If Rauner, Preckwinkle and Emanuel really want to curb runaway entitlements, let's get this paragraph revoked via a plebiscite on the 2016 ballot.

How do we save our Illinois as a place where our kids and grandchildren can flourish? I am a resident of Illinois for almost 45 years and love our state.

Jerry Goldman

Lincolnshire

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