Wednesday, February 6, 2013
A Monday night town hall meeting on pension reform generated a debate both at the meeting and on Patch.
Monday night's meeting in Wilmette on pension reform draw a wide array of debate and opinions — both at the actual meeting and in the comment section of Patch. Illinois' credit rating was downgraded to an A- at the end of January by Standard & Poor, making it the lowest out of the fifty states. The low rating is, in large part, due to the state's pension debt, which is currently at $95 billion. Monday night's meeting aimed to discuss Senate Bill 35 (SB35) and House Bill 98 (HB98), which both aim to end the "long, bitter impasse over pension reform at the state Capitol by combining what has been proposed by business, labor, legislators and civic groups with some new ideas," according to a hand-out passed out before the meeting began. …
Monday, February 4, 2013
Northern Suburban elected officials to hold joint town hall meeting on public pensions on Monday evening.
Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, Illinois State Senator Daniel Biss and State Representatives Robyn Gabel and Laura Fine will be participatig in a town hall meeting on public pensions in Wilmette on Monday. The event, which will discuss the current liability of the Cook County and Illinois State pension systems as well as reform, will be held at the Community Recreation Center in Wilmette on Monday, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The state of public pension in Illinois has been a hotly debated issue. Illinois currently has a $96 billion pension deficit. You can read more about it here. Are you planning on attending the town hall forum? What questions would you like answered? Let us know in the comments!
Monday, August 20, 2012
A special legislative session in Springfield last week made no progress. Here, Patch rounds up reactions from local politicians and residents.
No one ever said getting the pension issues in line in Illinois would be easy. State lawmakers have certainly proven that to be the case by the action – or rather inaction – last week in Springfield. In a turn of events that had all the surprise of say, the sun rising in the east, the Illinois General Assembly failed to act at the special session Friday on the matter of the pension debt that is estimated to be anywhere from $80 - $90 billion. So the issue will not be acted upon until after the November election at the earliest. The cost to the taxpayers was $40,000 for the session. The only vote taken was in the House on Legislators curbing their own pensions. That measure received 54 yes votes as opposed to 53 against, but it was still …
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Fire Chief Jim Dominick believes Illinois House's recent vote will make system more sustainable.
A pension plan overhaul approved by a 95-18 vote in the Illinois House last week to address underfunding won't be felt until next year, Wilmette fire and police chiefs told Patch. "It goes in effect after January," Fire Chief Jim Dominick said. "Will it have an impact? I'm sure. But we don't expect it to hurt hiring. The changes were necessary to make the system sustainable." Dominick said the department hires about two new employees a year. The initiative would raise the retirement age for firefighters and police officers hired in 2011 to 55, up from 50. "I am reluctant to predict the overall effect of the recent pension legislation on long-term police recruitment," said Police Chief Brian King. "What I know now is that we are in the …
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Wire Points
4:59 pm on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Worth pointing out that the meeting was dominated by people from other communities. There are websites for the extremist pension protectors and they were stoking their readers to come prior to the meeting. I saw no locals among those making doing the histrionics. The locals got in only a few questions at the end, to the satisfaction of the organized outsiders, one of whom put it this way on their… more ›