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Blagojevich budget playing fast and loose with economy
Gov. Rod Blagojevich's budget
blueprint for fiscal 2006 is playing fast and loose with the state's
economy -- increasing taxes, looting the state's pension systems and
expanding programs the state can't afford even now.
Blagojevich outlined his $53 billion
budget to a joint session of the General Assembly on Feb. 16.
I am not sure which reality the
Blagojevich administration is occupying right now. They have spent
themselves into yet another budget deficit, estimated at $2 billion;
state job growth still lags behind the significant employment growth
of other Midwestern states; and employers are fleeing to more
business-friendly states, taking jobs with them.
Yet, this governor stood before us
on Feb. 3 claiming that our state is turning the corner
economically, when in fact we have lost nearly 14,000 jobs since he
took office. Then on Feb. 16, in his budget address, he spouted
platitudes about pension reform, when he is in fact relying heavily
on yet another pension shell game to prop up his proposed budget.
Pension
commission vote a sham
I am a member of the governor's
pension commission that has been meeting since April 2004 to address
Illinois' severely underfunded public pension systems. I attended
the commission meetings in good faith, ready to work with other
members to effect some meaningful change.
I was extremely disheartened to
realize that this panel of experts was not being used to develop
long-term solutions but was actually being used by the governor's
allies to give him political cover. All those hours of meetings and
lengthy review of information turned out to be an absolute farce.
At its meeting Feb. 4, the pension
commission recommended a plan to free up money now by overhauling
the state's pension systems. The controversial proposal would scale
back pension benefits for new state hires but use the savings
immediately to give the governor some relief for the fiscal 2006
budget. On an 8-3 vote, the commission recommended that any savings
from any pension reforms enacted by the General Assembly should be
allocated proportionately from 2006 to 2045.
I voted "no," as did Rep. Mark
Beaubien, R-Wauconda, and a representative of the United Food and
Commercial Workers union. As a commission member, I vehemently
oppose any plan to "recognize" future savings that may, or may not,
occur under long-term reforms. That's just another attempt to spend
more today to shore up the governor's sagging budget and push the
cost to the future. No matter how you spin it, we would simply be
spending money now that we don't have -- and may never have.
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Filing
objections
On Feb. 9, I filed a letter with the
pension commission explaining my opposition to the pension
restructuring plan and asking that it be included with the
commission's report. That report came out on Feb. 16.
The
governor is using the commission's recommended savings allocation
plan and proposes short-funding the pension systems by more than
$800 million next year, although actual savings will be minimal. The
governor is also endorsing most of the pensions changes sent to him
by the commission, including the following changes that likely will
not have the support of the General Assembly and thus will not
result in any future savings for the pension system:
- Limiting "end-of-career" pay
increases to bump up an employee's pension, with pension benefits
paid by the state, not local school districts.
- Increasing the early retirement
penalty for future employees who retire before age 65.
- Limiting cost-of-living
adjustments for pension benefits for newly hired employees.
- Changing the alternative
retirement formula for new hires only.
- Changing the money purchase
option for existing university system employees and eliminating it
for new hires.
The pension commission did vote --
at my insistence -- to reject any plans the governor may have had to
reduce benefits for existing employees, which I believe would be
unconstitutional.
Just a
first step
The governor's budget address Feb.
16 also includes a 75-cent cigarette tax increase, a tax on computer
software, a tax on landfill-generated electricity, more raids on
dedicated state funds and the continued expansion of social services
programs. It is, however, only the first step in the long and
complex budget negotiation process, and I look forward to working
with my fellow lawmakers to make the kinds of changes that reflect
the spending priorities of 44th District citizens.
Brady
reappointed to board of trustees
I am pleased to have been asked to
continue my service as a member of the board of trustees for the
General Assembly Retirement System.
[From
Sen. Bill Brady,
44th District]
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