CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — An alliance of taxpayer and policy groups have come out with a list of what they want to see from Chicago’s pension reform efforts.
Ed Bacharach, founder of the Center for Pension Integrity, set the tone by quoting from Marx — the late comedian Groucho Marx.
“What Have Future Generations Ever Done For Us?” Bacharach said. “That quip was supposed to be funny, but in Chicago, we've asked future generations to pay for our government and our taxes.”
Spearheaded by research from Wirepoints, a coalition that called itself the Taxpayer Pension Alliance commended Mayor Brandon Johnson for accelerating payments to bring down Chicago’s pension debt. They worried, though, that the Pension Working Group Johnson established will recommend actions that kick the problem down the road.
Ted Dabrowski, president of Wirepoints, said the alliance wants Johnson's Pension Working Group to recommend fully funding Chicago’s pension systems twice as fast as it’s going.
“Any potential recommendations from the working group cannot turn out things like a reamortization that pushes the pension debts further into the future,” he said. “It can’t ask for tax hikes when people are already getting hurt deeply.”
Dabrowski said they made other recommendations, including a constitutional amendment to allow for reducing pension benefits.
“If you look at where we stand nationally on pension costs, on budget costs and, of course, on credit rating — [we’re] bottom of the country,” he said. “It’s going to take a reform of pensions, some form of a reduction in 1: how we pay off future pensions, and how we manage something like the COLA, the formula for pensions, etc.”
Previous attempts to cut existing benefits have failed in the courts as unconstitutional.
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