Kendall County Times

Illinois Republican Congressional candidate James Marter feels Springfield has become its own worst enemy when it comes to getting state pension debt under control.

“We have baked so much of this into the state constitution,” Marter told the Kendall County Times. “Things like the Cadillac pension requirements are big, while we have no adjustments for what’s going on with the economy. At the same time, we have over 7,000 units of government, which means many government workers with public pensions. It’s pay for play in politics in Springfield.”

Marter, who is running in the 14th Congressional District, laments taxpayers across the state are being forced to be pay the cost with government watchdog Wirepoints reporting that the state now faces a $530 billion pension shortfall, equating to an average bill in the neighborhood of $110,000 for Illinois households.

The hits haven’t ended there. Illinois has seen its credit rating plummet to the worst in the country and its property taxes soar to second-highest in the nation. That coincides with the second-largest population decline in the U.S. over the last 10 years. 

Of that $530 billion price tag, $313 billion of it is owed to the five state-run pension funds, while $55 billion is owed to state retiree health insurance and $9 billion to state pension obligation bonds. The report found that Chicago and Cook county pensions and retiree health owe $122 billion.

“You need pension reform and to do that you need government reform,” Marter added. “We need to reduce our number of units of government and to consolidate. That’s a start. We're also driving people out of this state because of workman compensation issues. Right now, we have a local government that wants to control every aspect of life, and that’s also contributing.”