The following are occasional comments from the president and other officers and board members of the College of DuPage Annuitants Association. They are intended to help keep our members informed, but they are not office statements on behalf of the association.
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Comments are listed from newest to oldest with prior entries moved to a separate page.
Posted: May 4, 2009
CDAA/SUAA Legislative Updates—
Last week, members of the CDAA Board were briefed on the current issues surrounding educator pension/benefits in the Illinois General Assembly by our SUAA lobbyist. We would best characterize his outlook as “grim.” He informed us that it is currently difficult to describe the exact actions/measures that may be taken by the GA, but there is a good possibility something may occur on May 8. (more details SUAA Briefing APR 29) There is, what may be described as a “stealth initiative” taking place in Springfield in the structure and substance of forthcoming legislative measures that will address educator pensions/benefits.
We need your help by asking you to immediately contact your senators and representatives. For some of you this will be your second and contacts—excellent. The most effective measure is to visit your legislator’s local office. As the House and Senate are now in session, you may have to speak to an aide. However, this type of meeting is still very important. If you visit your legislator’s offices, the aides are sure to report your concerns/comments to your reps. (an example of another letter)
Our primary talking points to our reps are that we are opposed to any changes to the structure of SURS (no combining with other pension systems), we advocate no change to the existing pension/benefits for current or future employees as well as NO pension funding holidays. If you are asked about the proposed income tax increase, we are almost forced to support it. Without additional funds, the significant state budget deficit will result in the GA making severe budget cuts (e.g. pension “holidays”, pension/benefit reductions, etc.).
Remember, the key to success is to ask for support. We gain nothing by being confrontational, regardless of the feedback received from our reps. (see Guide on Being…)
If you are looking for facts and figures to share with your legislators or to have a better understanding of the issues, see current Pension Issues and Fact and Figures… One fact you can share is that 60% of SURS Annuitants receive less that $2200 per month.
Specific legislative bills affecting us are included in the attachment WhereSUAAStands…
We have to act now. The GA will move quickly to enact measures to remedy this year’s budget crisis, as they plan to adjourn on May 31. If you can’t stop by your legislators’ offices, please send a letter or email and then follow up in a couple of days with a phone call to be sure your rep has your message.
Thank you for helping,
Steve Mansfield and CDAA Board
Posted: 15 April 2009
Fellow Retirees:
Per my previous communications, I’m sure you know the Illinois General Assembly is in the process of dealing with the financial crisis that culminated with the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich. Governor Quinn has proposed legislation to balance the budget. The governor’s proposals make dramatic changes to retirement benefits for current and future educators. Additionally, his proposals continue the perpetuation of underfunding/not funding our current pension system.
I am writing to urge you to invest a few minutes of your time to address the crisis in Springfield. All of us have to take responsibility for assuring that our legislators do not use our hard earned pensions to help allay the state’s financial shortfall.
What can you do?
- Read the referenced documents. One is a summary of the Governor’s proposal and the rational for our opposition. One is an update from SUAA calling our attention to the immediacy of the situation affecting educator pensions and benefits. The third is a sample letter you may use/modify for contacting your state senator and representative.
- Do take action! At this time, it is essential you share your thoughts with your legislators. I know it may be difficult to set an appointment with your legislators. However, you can call their offices and share your concerns with the office assistant. You may want to leave a brief message and then follow up with written communication. Letters that appear to be true reflections of your concern (not a form letter) are more effective. If you don’t want to mail your letter, an email is always an option. Regardless of the method, please invest a few minutes to do something.
- If you don’t know your legislators, go to the site www.ilga.gov, look in the lower right section of the page (under “Additional Resources) and click on Legislator Lookup. This will direct you to “District/Official Search.” Choose the tab to either search by your address or your zip+4 code. Once you enter the information, you will see a list that includes your state senator and state representative. If you click on their names, you will get the telephone number and mailing address. If you can’t access a computer, call me and I will lookup the info. For you.
- My letter is a composition of the information from SUAA and IEA. Please feel free to modify it, but be sure any statistics/data you include is correct.
- Please consider participating in the Springfield Rally on April 22. Please call me if you can help and we will attempt to carpool.
- After you communicate with your representatives; please send me an email or note to let me know if your rep provided you with a response along with the names of your senator and representative. I want to let SUAA know that CDAA members didn’t sit back and let our legislators use our benefits to again bail the state out of a financial crisis. Remember, the under funded pension liability is due to OUR legislators using OUR money for many, many years to finance their pet projects.
- Attend our annual luncheon/general meeting to get further updates on May 7. If you can’t find your invitation, call Val by April 20.
Thanks again,
Steve Mansfield and the CDAA Board
These are my comments and concerns relative to the SUAA Executive Director’s April 1st legislative briefing.
Pre and Post College Retirees Bear Weight of State Budget Deficit
It is no secret the State is in the midst of a financial crisis. Many of the proposals to reduce the State’s budget deficit are targeted at pre and post SURS and Teacher Retirement System benefited employees. Some of the major legislative proposals summarized from the director’s briefing include:
- New employees—pay more into their retirement plan, work longer prior to retiring, and receive reduced benefits when they finally retire (why should you care?) This change may result in fewer good educators choosing to work in Illinois and the overall cost to local school districts rising due to fewer “early” retirees being replaced with lower paid younger/new employees. (thus more of the tax burden falling on property taxes)
- Current employees—pay an additional 2% of salary for employee share of SURS contribution, receive no added benefit (why should you car?) An immediate reduction in your net income. Should this proposal be approved, it easily could open the door to future proposed reductions/costs for current employees.
- Retirees—currently the state’s pension systems are underfunded by over $50 billion. A plan was implemented several years ago for the state to provide “catch up” contributions to the systems in order to reduce the deficit. The governor’s proposal includes a stipulation for a “pension holiday” for 2009 (contribution of $700 million catch up for this year will be suspended) and for 2010, the $4 billion catch up will be reduced to $1.4 billion. Additionally, the governor does not even address future years. This proposal can be construed as an act of continuing to use our pension plan funds to help balance and finance the State’s budget.
Retirees also have to worry that enacting the drastic change to the Cost of Living Adjustment for future retirees (see attached briefing) may ultimately effect us. If the State were to reduce retiree COLA, it could result in a protracted and costly legal battle for us to attempt to have it restored.
What must WE do?
- Preferred, meet with your local legislator (they are on recess from April 6 to April 21 and should be available in their local office). Tell him/her you and your colleagues are opposed to any of these proposals. Remember to remind them that if legislators had fully funded our systems there would not be a budget shortfall today. (the State has been using our money to fund the budget for too long!!)
If you can’t meet your legislator, the next best method is to call his/her office and share your message. If you can’t call, at least send an e-mail. Remember, we are the only ones who are going to speak out against these drastic changes to our pension benefits.
- Share your concerns with friends and neighbors. Remember, in addition to cutting our benefits, the governor’s proposal includes raising the state income tax. (there are many ways to describe these proposals, but possibly the “yin and yang” for us is higher taxes and reduced benefits)
- If you can participate in the April 22 Springfield rally (see Exec. Dir. Briefing), please let me know. We will try to coordinate a carpool.
Urgent, Urgent, Urgent
I’m sorry for the lengthy discourse, but this is an urgent matter. Remember, once there is a reduction in retirement benefits, further reductions may follow. It will be nearly impossible to restore any benefits we lose.
Be sure to go to the suaa.org legislative update website and sign up for the legislative briefings. Further action by us may be necessary to address the problems with our retiree health insurance issues. You need to check often over the next couple of months. Your SUAA Executive Director is doing the best she can to keep us posted on what is happening at the capitol. We have to support her (SUAA) by voicing our concerns to our legislators. The IEA and IFT are working with us to reject these proposals.
Steve Mansfield
CDAA President