Saturday, June 16, 2012
Illinois pension reform
Illinois government is going after the little guy. It is a misconception that Illinois teachers and law enforcers have a cushy pension. Therefore, the legislative body in Illinois including the governor believe that to balance the budget the only fair thing to do is cut our penions and insurance benefits that we, as retirees worked long and hard to attain.
Let's start with pensions. Illinois law says that government must match the amount an employee puts into the pension system every pay day. Well, for many, many years that was not and is not the case. Then to add insult to injury the government borrowed OUR money we put in to our pensions and used it to cover debt that the government incurred. Now, they believe they have no obligation to stand by us now that we are retired. The Illinois constitution says they cannot do this. But their plan is to ammend the constitution to suit their needs. It should also be noted that others who are in the same retirement system as law enforcement and teachers are not effected by this. The government excluded judiciary and legislative personnel from this bill they are trying to pass.
It comes as no surprise that politics are corrupt. But if Illinois cut out the ridiculous pork projects that waste a good amount of Illinois budget we might not be in this mess.
Whatever happened to "the right thing" when it comes to loyal employees. Many people think we make a lot of money in our jobs. We make a living............How many of those who determine our future would be willing to be a teacher or a police officer. They don't want us when they don't need us but they cry loud and strong when they want us and we are not right there.
Keep an eye on this legislation. And keep an eye on other states that feel they should balance their budget by taking away from those who worked hard in a field noone else was interested in.
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Now, lets talk about Law enforcement back in the 60's and 70's.................I started with the state police in 1974. Noone wanted to the job back in those days except a very few. I worked undercover for $275.00 take home twice a month. That barely covered expenses. Not to mention we never heard or thought of overtime. It was nothing to put in a 12 to 15 hour day and be on call on top of that. We couldn't use accrued comp time because we were too busy. A vacation was hardly heard of because we had so many cases. I happened to be one of the first female undercover agents and I was in huge demand. Back in those days women were not police officers so noone suspected a woman undercover agent.
ReplyDeleteSo, as time passed and our comp time accrued the only way the government could handle the dollar to hour cost of comp time was to take most of it away. Some of us lost hundreds of hours. But noone said much because we believed in what we were doing.
Jump ahead many years..............for me 27 years. With small annual raises after many long years we had a good salary. But we paid into our pension and did not pay social security. So, when we reach social security age the only thing we are entitled to is our pension.
Let me suggest that those who think we retirees live as fat cats.................How would it be if all private sector employees had to pay back their matching 401K ontributions? How would they feel to have worked many years without overtime renumeration? How about paying your own travel and business expenses. Government employees have travel and business expense programs but you can barely buy a meal with the expense ceiling imposed upon us.
Don't get me wrong .....I loved what I did but it was still my goal to retire comfortably. Now, Illinois wants to fix their fiscal mistakes by taking back what was given to us in the Illinois constitution.