Barrington seeks citizen input on pension woes
Facing mounting payments into pension funds, Barrington officials decided to take a unique course of action and voted Dec. 1 to add an advisory referendum question regarding pension funds to the Feb. 2 ballot.
“We’re saying there’s a pension issue and [the question] allows tax payers to weigh in on this,” Barrington Village President Karen Darch said.
Area municipalities are struggling with how to come up with the required money pay into the pension funds. The amount each government must pay varies, but payments have increased across the board due to losses on investment returns and step increases in payments required by the Illinois General Assembly.
Barrington village officials were inspired by a question voted on the ballots by Lake Forest city council Nov 16. The village decided to adopt the same wording for their February primary ballots as well. The question asks voters, “Shall the Illinois General Assembly and the Governor take immediate steps to implement meaningful pension reform which will relieve the unsustainable burden on local taxpayers?”
“”The idea of pension reform is one that we’ve all been talking about,” Barrington Village President Karen Darch said. “The question is pretty straight-forward. We’re getting it out there for the public to consider, to learn more about pensions.”
Darch added that the question is calling attention to the fact that the Illinois General Assembly controls local pensions. Because local municipalities cannot modify how much they must pay into pension funds, they must cut services or raise taxes to make the increased required payments in 2010.
Because Barrington is not a home-rule community, it cannot levy its own tax increases.
“This year, we’re struggling because revenues are declining and these costs are increasing,” Darch said. “When you’re not passing that on, you’re looking at cutting department budgets. We have to cut somewhere. There’s only a finite number of dollars.”
The question’s main purpose, according to both Darch and Lake Forest city manager Robert Kiely who, along with officials from the Lake Forest city council and the Northwest Municipal Conference, crafted the question.
“About 18 months ago, we identified this trend that was occurring in the unsustainability in public safety pensions,” Kiely said.
“What we heard from a number of municipalities is ‘We’re right behind you, Lake Forest,’” city manager Robert Kiely said. “They’re looking for somebody to be first.”
The results of the advisory referendum question will be sent to elected officials in the general assembly, Kiely said.
“The residents need to be aware of the situation and contact their legislators,” Kiely said. “It isn’t to try and say that there’s one best solution. It’s just to try to raise awareness and take the matter under serious advisement.”
Senate Bill 2011, which would have extended the amount of time municipalities have to fully fund their pensions, thus lowering the financial burden next year, passed the Senate but stalled in the House.
—By Michelle Stoffel, Triblocal.com reporter
**Note: I also localized this for the Lake Forest area here
