Legislature vote to push pension costs to property owners Aug 17

On Tuesday, August 7th, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) announced he will allow a vote of the Illinois House on Governor Quinn's proposal to shift the state's financial responsibilities to the Teacher's Retirement System (TRS) to local school districts at the special session called by Quinn on Friday, August 17th.

The result of this action will force school districts to raise the additional state mandated revenue necessary from schools' only revenue stream, the local property tax. If you have been following my blog, you know, the impact on our local Tinley/Orland districts of 135, 140, 146, and 230 will be as much as $24 million alone. This is a staggering amount to burden homeowners with when many a stretched to the breaking point already. If we, the public, do not act in the next 10 days, the Democrat majority of the Illinois House will ram this colossal tax increase down our throats and damage the quality of education for decades.

Rep. Tom Cross (R-Plainfield), the Republican leader in the Illinois House, has announced all Republicans in the House will vote No, as they did in May when the bill was originally presented. Enough Democrats joined the Republicans to defeat the bill. Three months later, here they come again.

Why are Quinn, Madigan, and the Democrats doing this? First, TRS accounts for roughly half of the state's massive and ever growing $86 Billion pension debt. This action gets all of that debt off the state's books.

Second, the Springfield Democrats are counting on public anger being directed at your local school boards, not them. The local property taxes going up will be under your local districts line item. Everyone is in both a elementary and high school district, so everyone will see two tax hikes. They get rid of the debt they created while making the school districts take the blame.

If you listen to the Springfield Democrats, this pension crisis was created overnight and is completely due to school districts overpaying employees. This is nonsensical political spin. Lets review the facts:

1. The state established the current TRS funding schedule, not the school districts.

2. The local districts and the teachers have NEVER missed a payment to TRS, while the state has made no or partial payments of their portion for years.

3. The state will continue to, as they have for years, borrow against TRS to spend elsewhere in the bloated state budget.

Essentially by making the local school districts, and by extention the homeowners who finacially support those districts, the guarantors of teacher pensions, the state will be using every home in Illinois (outside Chicago) as collateral for their mismanagement. It has been the overspending for a decade that put the state in this mess.

What can be done? Contact your legislator, tell him/her not to gut elementary and high school education and raise your property taxes too. Let them know how you feel before August 17. Election day is less than 3 months away. Let them know how you feel. We do need pension reform, but the children and homeowners should not be paying the price.

Here are our area Democrat representatives, contact them with your feelings on the pension cost shift to your property tax bill. Make your voice heard by August 17.

Robert "Bob" Rita (D-Blue Island) 708-396-2822 robertbobrita@aol.com

Charles Krezwick (D-Orland Park) 708-403-4944 ckrez37@att.net