Editorial: Public pensions are a promise to be kept : Stltoday

Editorial: Public pensions are a promise to be kept : Stltoday

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 snip

Don’t look now, but something like class warfare is heating up over the issue of public pensions in Illinois.

The first shot was fired last Wednesday when the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago — sort of the Windy City’s version of St. Louis’ Civic Progress, only more engaged — declared that “the pension crisis has grown so severe that it is now unfixable.”

“We do not make that statement lightly,” the memo from the club’s leaders to members said. “It is an honest statement that no one — not our legislators, nor or governor, no labor leaders — is willing to say publicly. But we will.”

The Illinois office of AFSCME — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — fired back with a statement saying, “Millionaire CEOs want to slash the modest retirement savings earned by middle-class public servants like teachers, police, nurses and caregivers.”
The odd thing is that both sides are right, but both are guilty of hyperbole. Without drastic changes in the state’s revenue picture and political climate, the pension crisis probably is unfixable. And while not all members of the Commercial Club are millionaires, it’s also true that the average public pension in Illinois is $32,000 a year. The average retired judge gets more than $112,000 a year and the average retired legislator gets more than $50,000, so averages aren’t particularly useful. But whatever the number, that’s what the retiree has to live on, because public pensions usually take the place of Social Security.

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all pension agreements should be kept.  alas that is not true. ask soar 11-3