State Treasurer Dan Rutherford says poor credit rating will cost taxpayers.
Standard & Poor’s rating services downgraded Illinois’ credit rating today to A-, with a negative outlook, making it the lowest rating of all 50 states. State Treasurer Dan Rutherford blamed the negative rating on inaction on the public pension system by Gov. Pat Quinn and the general assembly, at a press conference today. Illinois has a $96 billion pension deficit. Rutherford pointed out numerous instances in which the state had set a deadline to address pension reform and did not meet the deadline, which was followed by a downgrade in the state’s credit rating. “Every time a deadline is set and nothing happens substantively, there is a negative action by rating agencies, Rutherford said. Rutherford explained that the poor credit rating …
Illinois voters will decide whether a three-fifths majority vote should be required for any state governing body to increase public pension benefits.
- OPINION
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Thursday, October 25, 2012
Dear Editor: Voters in Illinois will find a Constitutional Amendment on the 2012 General Election ballot on which they will be asked to vote 'yes' or 'no.' The Amendment, passed by the Illinois General Assembly in the Spring of 2012, must be voted on by Illinois voters and would amend the General Provisions Article of the Illinois Constitution to require a three-fifths majority vote of the Illinois General Assembly, any governing body of a unit of local government, school district, or pension or retirement system to increase a benefit under any public pension or retirement system is sought. The League of Women Voters of Illinois is opposed to proposed Constitutional Amendment 49. Its opposition rests solely on the three-fifths majority …
John Parker
9:16 pm on Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The 630 educators who retired from District 211 (Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, Palatine) averaged pension payments of $86,982 last year, almost twice the state average, according to records from the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System. To put this in context, the total pension debt-per-household in Suburban North West Cook County is $35,774 more ›