SPRINGFIELD, IL (AP) - According to AP, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago told members Wednesday in a memo the Illinois pension system is "unfixable" and that even current retirees' benefit will have to be cut to keep it from bankruptcy. That includes eliminating annual cost-of-living increases, capping the salaries that pensions are based on and more.
Committee president Tyrone Fahner (photo right) told the AP that current
state employees and teachers will never see the benefits promised them.
The systems are underfunded by at least $85 billion.
The committee hopes to light a fire under a stalemated Legislature.
Fahner says lawmakers' ideas for reducing benefits are "half measures."
