Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Pension Reform

State Senate candidate Karen McConnaughay today announced her support for the creation of a tiered state pension system that will move employees to a defined contribution system and away from the unsustainable defined benefit plan that has left the state with an unfunded liability of over $80 billion dollars. “I have great respect for the men and women in public service, and the worst thing we can do is to prop up an unsustainable pension system that will eventually drag down the state’s finances and force radical reductions in benefits,” said McConnaughay. “Moving to the type of retirement plan that the vast majority of Illinois workers have is not just common sense, it is the fair and responsible thing to do,” she added.
McConnaughay, currently Chairman of the Kane County Board, announced that she will support SB 512 which will establish three options for current state employees. Those employees will retain current benefit guarantees for the years they have worked, but, going forward, will either increase their contributions to maintain the current benefit guarantee, maintain current contributions and have future benefits reduced, or move to a 401(k)-type retirement savings plan that will include a state contribution. The legislation also calls for a scheduled pay off of the current unfunded liability for state pensions.
“I applaud the work of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club which has been relentless in its promotion of meaningful pension reform,” said McConnaughay. “I believe they have focused attention on this issue that has been swept under the rug for too long.” The Civic Committee’s “Illinois is Broke” campaign has promoted restructuring state government pensions through grassroots advocacy and education across the state.
As part of her support for state pension reform, McConnaughay also announced that she will not participate in the General Assembly Retirement System while she serves in the Senate. “I currently save for my retirement through the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF), and will continue to do so,” she said. “I will not seek eligibility in another public pension system to feather my nest while asking state workers to sacrifice along with other working families. In fact, because of the reduction in compensation between the County Board chairmanship and the legislature, I will be ultimately reducing the pension I will receive.”

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous2/28/2012

    She won't feather her nest, but she's ok with telling state employees what's good for them. Meanwhile, her imrf pension remains unchanged. Hypocrite!

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  2. Anonymous2/29/2012

    Bring back child labor work until you die and if you get hurt on the job our IME doctor will say your fine.

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  3. Anonymous2/29/2012

    Cut all the welfare for illegals before gutting the pensions.

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  4. Anonymous2/29/2012

    Where do we get 80 billion from anyway? Not from me. The gravy train is over

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  5. Anonymous2/29/2012

    Cut the welfare before the Pensions.

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  6. Anonymous2/29/2012

    Cut Welfare

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  7. Again we have politicians ruining something . We all have read about the scams put forth by our elected slugs. Theses positions were set up for there own people not you and me. I never saw an ad in the paper for deputy to the deputy commissioners position, must know how to ring door bells. These people are not your friends. They may seem like nice people and maybe have a drink with but don't fool yourself. These are back stabbing no good motherf*^#ers. Thats it. These pensions were never intended to be padded and then padded alien for personal gains. Remember the average state pensioner retires at about 40K . Tops. When you read about 51 year old leaving with full benefits and collecting immediately something is wrong. Although these people did contribute on their end it was the politician that didn't fund their end. They chose to give that money away to some special interest that isn't monitored and is ripe with fraud. We know how to fix this, VOTE THESE SLUGS OUT....

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous3/01/2012

      Some good points, however "although these people did contribute on their end it was the politician that didn't fund their end" - Not exactly. The politicians do not fund anything - it is us - the taxPAYER who "funds" ie pays for everyone elses nice retirements...And 40k per year is more money than the true "working man" makes in this state after putting in 40-50 hours per week. There will be NO choice in this matter... we do not have 80 BILLION dollars to give. The state is dying and blame the DemocRATS who your unions funded over and over and over again for years and years!

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  8. Anonymous3/01/2012

    Does anyone know what is going in on the sw corner of 111 an Kedzie. They are doing some work there but there is no permit in the window.

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  9. Anonymous3/01/2012

    Where in the private sector do you get 80% of your exit salary as a pension after 30 years on the job and age 55? You do at Cook County.

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  10. I AM NOT PUBLISHING ANY RANTS WHICH CONTAIN SWEARING, PERSONAL INSULTS OR PERSONAL ATTACKS. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME.

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