A good first step on pension reform

Many citizens do not appreciate and understand that the parameters for police and fire pensions are determined by legislation in Springfield, but must be paid for by municipalities, which affects local property taxes.

The police and fire pension boards, which exist in most communities, administer the pensions and rights and claims, and each one of these hundreds of pension boards hires investment professionals and invests the pension funds. We read constantly about the state pension debt that saddles the state, but rarely hear about the local pension issues for police and firemen. As a former mayor, I and former and current mayors having been pushing for reforms for countless years.

One of the ideas that we have pushed was to have the police and fire pension funds pooled into a large statewide fund to maximize investment returns and cut investment expenses. It is great to hear that one of the governor's task forces agrees with this concept, and Gov. Pritzker says he supports it, too. We now need our representatives and senators in Springfield to approve this idea, which will clearly have a positive impact on potentially reducing property taxes since it is estimated that over five years, investment earnings increases may approach $1 billion.

I urge every resident of towns throughout the state to contact their legislators and urge this consolidation of police and fire pension funds for investment purposes. This a good first step on long overdue local pension reform.

Elliott Hartstein

Northbrook