The following is a historical record of prior 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.Please enter the conversation by returning your comments to . Thank you.

Comments are listed from newest to oldest.

Posted: 17 March 2010

TO:         ALL CDAA/SUAA Members                          
RE:         Urgent Benefit Information

FROM:   Steve Mansfield, President                          
DATE:    March 16, 2010

 
We need your help.  In fact, we need everyone to help.  The State’s budget crisis is going to result in dire consequences for nearly every citizen of Illinois.  I’m sure you know what is happening with State’s funding or should I say “lack of funding” of your local schools as well as all Illinois public community colleges and universities.  COD has been forced to curtail/reduce funding for programs as well as downsize faculty and classified positions.  Smaller community colleges in southern Illinois are facing financial exigency that may result in closing the schools.  The State is several months in arrears in reimbursing health care providers, doctors and hospitals, throughout Illinois for services covered by CIP and State Health Insurance plans.

Few could have anticipated the rapidity of the escalating financial crisis confronting the taxpayers of Illinois.  Unfortunately, the financial crisis is further exacerbated by the unfunded $80+ billion debt to the pension systems.  Several organizations/associations and newspapers have targeted reducing the benefits of current and future pensioners as a means of ameliorating the crisis. Current discussions in Springfield include requiring retirees to pay income taxes on their pensions along with having their COLA reduced or eliminated.  Additional proposals include requiring current and future employees to contribute more to their pensions while at the same time reducing their retirement benefits.

Without severe budget cuts and subsequent reduction of funding for services and support at the state and local levels along with a concomitant influx of revenue, there may be a dour outlook for current and future retiree benefits.  There is an imminent danger that legislative reforms to public employee pension and health benefit systems could be enacted within the next two months.  These measures would probably be irrevocable.

What can we do?  We have to share our perspectives and opposition to unwarranted reduction of retiree benefits with our State representatives and senators.  Sharing can be done face-to-face, by telephone, and/or through letter writing or email communication.  We have to share our message.  The coalitions, organizations, and newspapers that believe pensioners are overpaid and under taxed are sharing their messages with your legislators.
We should be involved in developing a solution for the State’s fiscal crisis---We should not be identified as the problem.

Start Today
• Register and attend “The Illinois Fiscal Crisis” Regional meeting on April 8 or April 9
• Volunteer to become a CDAA Legislative Contact Person
• Go to suaa.org website and register for “Call to Action”
• Check suaa.org website often and review “Latest News”
• Act/React to emails/snail mail sent to you by SUAA and CDAA
• Check codretirees.org websites for updates and announcements
• Be sure to support SUAAction (even more so for those of you residing outside of Illinois)
• Inform current and future retiree non-CDAA members as to why they should be members

 

This morning [19 August, 2008] Ellen Johnson and I along with two representatives from Governor State retirees met with Scott Harper, candidate for US House, Dist. 13. The purpose was to let him know about CDAA, SUAA and get his support for eliminating Social Security offsets, WEP and GPO. The meeting was successful as Mr. Harper indicated he will sign the pledge that, if elected, he will support our cause. Thank you Ellen for your contribution. Ron Lemme

On April 27, 2008 Ron Lemme, President of our CDAA asked to hear from us! A recent article on the upcoming Illinois constitutional convention vote caused the leadership of  The Illinois Annuitants Association is asking local chapters to poll their members with the following question:  "On the basis of what you now know about the proposed Illinois Constitutional Convention, would you vote in favor of this proposal?"  YES or NO. COD sent out the survey question to 241 of its members who are on our e-mail communicating list.  As of May 20th here are the results. 68 responses 45 said no (66%) 23 said yes (34%) Ron Kapper

On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 Ron Lemme writes: Hi Gang, Again, sorry to miss the annual spring lunch and meeting. Okay, that's a lie: I'll be happy to be in Italy. But really, I will miss it and particularly since it is my last meeting before whoever takes over. So Ron, and everyone, here are my comments under the president's comments. Please feel free to give me suggestions or corrections or whatever. Thanks. PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS: Sorry Barb and I aren't with you today. We are in Italy, so I guess we'll get over our disappointment. But we do miss seeing all our friends and colleagues. We'll see you all at the picnic this summer and do our best to bore you with our adventures of Italy. Welcome to all our new retirees and new members of CDAA and SUAA. Thank you for your years of dedicated service to students and the College and now I hope you will be an active, contributing member of our organization. Thanks to many of you, I believe SUAA and our local CDAA organization has grown and is stronger than it was years earlier. This should continue. State wide we are moving from a bunch of retiree social groups to an organization who's voice is listen to in Springfield. This should continue. Remember, strength comes through numbers. Please encourage your fellow retiree and those yet to retire to join us and become CDAA and SUAA members. SUAAction, the political action arm of SUAA, has been formed. It is being funded by all your contributions. It is beginning to lobby in Springfield and around the state in support of your pension and health benefits. Should our new board decide, I will continue to serve on the state SUAAction Committee. I think it is very beneficial to have someone from CDAA on this state committee to have a voice and serve as a communication link between this important effort and our organization. For this year, to date, 138 of you have given $6,340 to SUAAction. One of the better efforts in the state. Thank you to everyone who has given their support. State wide the goal for this year is $150,000. As usual we are one of the leader in the state. In December I encourage you to consider supporting the College of DuPage Foundation. If you choose, this is an opportunity to give back and enhance that special program or service you would like to help with your contribution.. Please make your contribution through the Foundation, to the Retiree's Fund and indicate how you wish your contribution to be used. We have a new and improved Website which we are very proud of. Now all of us need to use it to improve our communications among one another. I'm sure Sally will have more to say about this in a few minutes. Remember to attend the College Reception for those retiring this year. It is Wednesday, May 7 in SRC 2800. This is a great way to see old friends, congratulate those retiring and moving into a new phase of life, and encourage them to become members of CDAA and SUAA. As our new officers take over, I encourage your continued membership, to get involve and everyone see what they can do to strengthen our organization. Finally, thank you for allowing me to serve as your president the past three years. It has been an honor to represent my friends and colleagues. Believe me, I have thoroughly enjoyed the many beautiful trips down to lovely Springfield! I have had the pleasure to work with a wonderful, dedicated and hard working board. Thanks to Vice President Ron Kapper. Ron and I worked in tandem on many projects which has made my job easier. I can't think of a better VP that I could have worked with. Thanks Ron. He's also a great "SoreBun". Thanks to Peggy Maas and Joe Rorke for their excellent work as secretary and treasurer. We are lucky that they will continue to serve next year. Thanks to the committee chairs: Steve Mansfield - Membership, Sally Hadley, and her "teckies" Peter Klassen and Alan Lanning - Communications, and Val Follmann - Social. All did an excellent job! Arrivederci! Ron L.

State of the association, March, 2008 from Ron Lemme

The College Insurance Program Legislation Is Introduced On February 14, 2008, legislation was proposed to amend the College Insurance Program that applies to retirees of community college districts. Three of the provisions are: 1) Increases the continuing appropriation contribution that the State pays to the College Insurance Program in order to maintain the fiscal health of the College Insurance Program for all participants statewide; 2) Exempts the Community College Health Insurance Security fund from “fund sweeping” and administrative charge-backs; and 3) Includes the City Colleges of Chicago (currently excluded) for participation in the College Insurance Program. Check the SUAA webpage, www.suaa.org for more information. SUAA Representation CDAA is well represented at SUAA. CDAA officers including Ron Lemme, Ron Kapper, Steve Mansfield and Joe Rorke have attended SUAA meetings statewide. Ron Lemme serves of the statewide SUAAction, while Ron Kapper is vice-president of the SUAA Foundation. The next SUAA board meeting will be on March 11, 2008, at Southern Illinois University. Ron Lemme will attend.CDAA and The COD Foundation You recently should have received a letter urging you to consider making a contribution to the COD Foundation. CDAA has established a special Retiree’s Fund where you have the opportunity to make a donation and give back to the College for that special program or service that you are most interested in helping. Hopefully with many of our contributions we will see this Fund grow. It’s not too late to make your contribution. Please send it to The College of DuPage Foundation and indicate how you wish your donation to be used. Please indicate that it is part of the Retiree’s Fund. New CDAA Officers To Be Elected You may recall that our CDAA officers are elected to two-year terms. The two-year term for our current president and vice-president are set to expire on July 1, 2008. The terms for our secretary and treasurer don’t expire until July 2009. Current Vice-President Ron Kapper has decided not to seek the office of president. Therefore, we will be electing a new president and vice-president at our Spring Meeting/Luncheon on May 1, 2008.  These are important times for our organization. We need people willing to serve. If you are interested in finding out more as to what is involved, please contact Ron Lemme,

COD Board of Trustees We need to assure that we have excellent candidates who will run for the COD Board of Trustees in April 2009. There will be four openings. Please consider whom you know that would make a good board member. Perhaps you might consider this important position yourself. Watch our website, www.codretirees.org for more on this later.  All College Retirees Reception The All College Retirees Reception to honor the “new” retirees will be on Wednesday, May 7, from 11:30am to 1:30pm. The President’s Office will send out an announcement of this reception towards the end of March to all CDAA members, but mark your calendars now. This is a great opportunity to honor our new retirees (and new CDAA members) and get a chance to see all your former colleagues. SUAAction Fundraising As you know, SURS employees and retirees face increasing threats to their pension and health benefits. SUAAction was established in 2005 to address this challenge: To protect your pension and healthcare benefits. Ron Lemme is a member of the statewide SUAAction Committee. Soon, if you haven’t already, you will receive a request for your yearly contribution. Last year was the first formal year for SUAAction fund raising. Most of you contributed, making our chapter one of the leading fund raising chapters in the state.The State of Illinois is in serious debt, and your benefits will continue to be a target. You cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. Join your peers and support a common cause. Your contributions are invaluable. Suggested contributions are $1.00 for each $1,000 of salary or pension. If you haven’t already, make your contribution today. Checks should be payable to SUAAction and mailed to SUAA, Suite 301, 3085 Stevenson Drive, Springfield, IL 62703. Thank You Irma After many, many years of outstanding service to CDAA, Irma Pittroff has “retired” from the CDAA Board. Irma has been one of CDAA’s greatest contributors, making our organizations one of the most active SUAA chapters in the state. We on the Board will miss Irma insights, wisdom, hard work and most of all her sense of humor. Thank you Irma!

 

 

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