In the News

Pioneer Press, January 7, 2010

Faced with a pension advisory question on the Feb. 2 General Primary Election ballot, Lake Forest is hosting a Public Pension Forum from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Gorton Community Center, 400 E. Illinois in Lake Forest to address how public pension funding will impact taxpayers -- a problem that municipalities across the country are facing.

The Lake Forest City Council voted in November to add an advisory referendum question to the upcoming ballot that will ask 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?"

Funding for pensions comes from three sources: employee contributions, city contributions and investment returns. Recent investment losses have negatively affected the pension fund balances.

With employee contributions set by the General Assembly, it's up to Lake Forest taxpayers to make up the difference.

Like all municipalities, Lake Forest is required to fund pension benefits of police, firefighters and other municipal employees. And like all municipalities, Lake Forest is facing rising costs in its pension funding.

"It's taxpayer dollars that pay down the pension debt and what municipalities across the state are saying is we can't afford this," said State Sen. Susan Garrett. Garrett has proposed pension reform legislation and has achieved bipartisan support and met with union officials as well as municipalities on this issue.

Lake Forest, like other towns and cities, is asking for relief -- a longer time to pay down its pension debt -- or some other step so that it is not forced to raise taxes for pension funding.

The recent economic decline has resulted in an "unparalleled decline in pension fund reserves," according to city officials.

Garrett hopes to attend the Lake Forest forum Monday night to address what she calls a problem that extends beyond Illinois.

"Many, many municipalities in many states are facing this problem. Lake Forest is being very up front about the severity of the problem and alerting voters that 'we don't want to raise taxes, but we might have to'," she said.

Panel members will include representatives from the Illinois legislature, police and fire pension boards, and Lake Forest City Council. Questions and comments will be taken from the public following the panel discussion.