Illinois Business Leaders Call for Real Retirement Benefit Reform

CHICAGO, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago today called on Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn to make real retirement benefit reform the highest priority in his upcoming budget address. The group also called on the Illinois legislature and all candidates seeking elected office to address the vast unfunded obligations owed by public pension and retiree health care systems.

"Before anyone talks about solving our financial crisis or tax increases, they must begin with real pension and retiree health care reform," said W. James Farrell, Chairman of the Civic Committee's State Finance Task Force and former Chairman and CEO of Illinois Tool Works.  "If anyone introduces a pension reform plan that does little more than create political talking points, then they are doing the people of Illinois a great disservice."

According to an analysis by the independent Pew Center on the States, Illinois ranks dead last in terms of its pension funding, with more than $136 billion owed by its pension and retiree health care systems.  The Civic Committee supports reforms that would apply to current employees as well as future hires.  Only such reforms will have an immediate and positive impact on the state budget.  Reforming benefits for current employees going forward could save $3 billion or more annually.

Illinois must raise the retirement age for state workers, reduce pension accruals and automatic cost of living increases, and require retirees to pay a share of their health care costs, the group said.  The reforms are similar to measures already adopted by the private sector companies that employ most Illinois taxpayers.

"We need both benefit reform and improved pension funding," said R. Eden Martin, President of the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago. "If we don't get both, at some point the pension funds will run out of money."

"The explosion in unfunded retirement benefits is at the core of the state's budget crisis," said Miles D. White, Chairman of the Civic Committee and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Abbott.  "The Civic Committee has never shied away from taking on the tough issues – especially the ones that affect every citizen.  Of all the issues that we have tackled, there is no question that this one is the most serious."

The Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago is a non-profit organization comprised of senior executives from the Chicago region's leading corporations, professional firms and universities.  The mission of the Civic Committee is to improve the economic and social well-being of the Chicago region.  Other public service initiatives that the Civic Committee has supported include expansion of O'Hare International Airport, public school reform and charter schools, and independent management of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System.

SOURCE The Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago