Buffalo Grove-Area Legislators Address School Pension Reform

School pension reform was at the center of discussion Tuesday when area legislators gathered to share updates with the Buffalo Grove business community.  

State Sen. Terry Link (D-Waukegan), state Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield), state Rep. Carol Sente (D-Vernon Hills) and state Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook), whose districts all serve portions of Buffalo Grove, told a crowd of Buffalo Grove Area Chamber of Commerce members they are frustrated by the state’s failure to resolve the pension crisis and provided a general idea of how it might be done.  

“I think everybody wants to know what we did in the (legislative) session, and so do we,” Link began, eliciting laughter from the audience.  

“I don’t think there’s a member of the General Assembly who doesn’t want to resolve this one way or the other. So I think before this year ends, you will have a pension bill on the governor’s desk,” he said.  

Morrison, who said she will not accept a legislative pension until the system is corrected, noted that legislators recently voted on a number of issues, including concealed carry, marriage equality and medical marijuana.  

“We did do a lot of things. It just wasn’t pensions, which should have been our number one issue,” she said.  

Sente said she wished the matter had been resolved.  

“It affects all of us, whether you have a pension or don’t have a pension,” she said. “I think we will get there.”  

Nekritz expressed her disappointment that lawmakers were unable to come to an agreement during the last session.  

“I frankly believed up until 24 hours to go that we were going to get it done. It’s still a little bit raw for me,” she said.  

“There is some speculation in the media that this was all a game between Speaker (Michael) Madigan and Senate President (John) Cullerton to lobby bills back and forth and not do anything. I really don’t believe that at all. I think that leadership is really committed to getting something done,” she said.  

She described herself as “someone who was really embroiled in it and who was incredibly frustrated and incredibly angry and incredibly disappointed when it didn’t get done.”  

“You need to remain angry and frustrated that it’s not done because this is an issue that affects everybody,” Elliott Hartstein, former Buffalo Grove village president, said.    

Morrison said school districts, which determine educators’ salaries, need to take more responsibility for their retirement benefits.  

“The responsibility needs to go away from the state and to the school districts,” she said. “A very gradual, slow shift so that the districts have more skin in the game, I think is appropriate.”    

Link agreed. “I think this is something we have to look into, the shift,” he said, adding that the change should be phased in over multiple years. And, he said, “if there’s state funds owed to the school districts, it’s paid on time and the exact amount. Tax anticipation warrants are costing districts money because the state is not meeting its obligations,” he said.  

How about some other topics?” suggested Chamber of Commerce moderator Marc Blumenthal, as the discussion continued.  

“There are no other topics,” replied Stevenson School Board member Terry Moons.  

The legislators did briefly address questions about medical marijuana and the Route 53 expansion before Buffalo Grove Village President Jeff Braiman posed another pension-related question.

“My concern is, what happens after that?” he asked, stating that the police and fire pension systems also need reform.

“[The villages] pay the pensions for police and fire, but you have increased the requirements to the point where it’s strangling us,” Braiman said.

“We are committed,” Link said. “The day after we pass something for the schools, we will move on the police and fire.”