59th District candidates discuss potential solutions to state's pension crisis
Candidates for state representative in the 59th District agree the pension crisis in Illinois won't be easy to fix but needs prompt attention.
As incoming freshman legislators, either Democrat Daniel Didech or Republican Karen Feldman can count on pension debt's being on the full plate of tough work facing the next General Assembly.
They're running to replace incumbent Carol Sente, a Democrat from Vernon Hills who is not seeking re-election after nine years in Springfield. The 59th District includes portions of 21 communities in central Lake and northern Cook counties, including large sections of Buffalo Grove, Mundelein, Wheeling and Vernon Hills.
Both Feldman and Didech say they would start addressing the crisis by refusing a legislator's pension.
In the bigger picture, Feldman, a residential Realtor and former Lincolnshire village trustee, supports moving all new hires to a defined contribution plan modeled after private and public sector 401(K) retirement plans. She's also open to the lump-sum payment option for current employees, as proposed in Illinois House Bill 315.
"The current legislature has put pensions above public safety, which is just crazy," she said. "I think the number one job there is public safety."
Legislators have "overpromised and then intentionally underfunded" pensions, she contends. Encouraging state workers to take lump-sum buyouts has bipartisan support but would have to be voluntary given court rulings in previous pension reform cases, Feldman said.
"Who knows what's going to happen? It's a huge, huge problem," she said.
Didech, a Buffalo Grove resident and municipal attorney, says shifting employees into a 401(K)-style program is "something that should be on the table," along with other possibilities.
"I think we should also be doing more voluntary buyouts - different categories of options of voluntary buyouts for public sector employees," he said.
"It makes sense both to the employees and the taxpayers to pay out a little more now, which can save us a lot more money in the long term," Didech added.
Didech emphasized that it's "important to keep our promises" and honor the terms of current pensions, but he said there are other avenues to pursue, such as limiting end-of-year salary bumps that increase payouts.
Solutions won't come quickly, but "with a commitment to fiscal responsibility, it's not something that's impossible to solve," Didech said.
Didech, who was elected Vernon Township supervisor in 2017, said he has been paying into the pension system but wouldn't be vested for several years and doesn't expect to collect anything from that source.
He said he will resign as township supervisor if elected in November.