Election 2011: Village Candidates on the Public Pension System

April 5 is coming up fast. To help you get to know the candidates for the contested Woodridge elections, we asked the candidates for the and the a set of questions. We'll be posting the answers to those questions throughout the week.

What must be done to fix the problems confronting the public pension system?

There is no greater fiscal problem than issues surrounding the public pension system. Step 1 should be to switch from the traditional pension system (defined benefits) to a 401(k) type system (defined contributions) which the government would pay into. That way, government must pay into an account with this year’s money, not IOUs which our children and grandchildren will be stuck paying. Second, the abuses of the pension system must stop. Pension “spiking” (jacking up salary at end of employment to raise pension levels) and people collecting two pensions must stop. It is a complex issue that requires our immediate attention.

There has to be an open dialougue with the residents, the public employees and current pensioners.

Positive steps have been made toward public safety pension reform. There has to be a continued effort to reduce the pension debt, in addition to ensuring that municipalities are protected while trying to fulfill their obligations.

This is not an easy question to answer in a short answer but it can start by moving the public pension in the direction of where the private sector has gone. Move from having the public own the long term financial responsibility to having the employees in charge of their own retirement with a reliable and predictable contribution from the village - like the private sector. The current obligations at the Village level take up a large part of the budget. New employees will have different benefit levels because of changes in state law but that doesn’t remove the current burden on the budget.