Ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to resign seat | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan s News Source infotel.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from infotel.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
WBGZ Radio 2/16/2021 |
By Greg Bishop - Illinois Radio Network
Illinois taxpayers pay more than $2.1 million a month to retired state legislators or their surviving spouses from a fund that’s only 16% funded. The individual monthly payouts are as high as $18,000 per month. Some pensioners aren’t actually retired but still getting paid. There are 425 people drawing off the General Assembly Retirement System, ranging from $122 a month to $18,000.
At 16% funded, state Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, said GARS is the worst of the state’s five public sector pension funds. “You got there by skipping payments and being unrealistic and that’s a microcosm of what’s happened with all the funds,” Batinick said. All five of the state’s pensions funds combined have an unfunded liability of more than $140 billion. Being an Illinois state lawmaker is considered a part time job and Batinick said members of GARS getting that much per month in retirement is out of line. “So, p
Paul Sancya/AP
Census data needed for the upcoming redrawing of legislative districts likely won’t be available until September, a delay that could throw “a monkey wrench” into the state’s remapping process and the political campaigns that follow.
That late release could put the state about five or six days before the constitutional deadline for having maps finished, state Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said.
“I think this is going to be a huge issue as we try to redistrict this spring without having the data that we need to do the redistricting,” Butler said.
“We’re going to have to do it differently this year given what’s going on with the data, and I have no idea what the other party is doing, but I think it’s going to be very difficult to have districts that stand up to potential litigation when we don’t even have the correct data that may be used in drawing lines.”
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