“New Problem” for Illinois pension programs

Fixing ‘Tier II’ issue can be both costly and an opportunity

Ralph Martire

Posted December 18, 2023 5:06 pm

By Ralph Martire

The General Fund budget Gov. Pritzker inherited from his immediate predecessor Bruce Rauner could charitably be described as a “hot mess.” It was running an operating deficit of 30%, which in turn had created a ginormous $8 billion backlog of unpaid bills. To be clear, that isn’t fiscally sustainable.

It also isn’t desirable, because lack of fiscal capacity on the front-end means the inability to fund services to adequate levels on the back-end. That’s no bueno, given that over 94% of all General Fund service expenditures cover the core areas of education, health care, social services and public safety — which are not only demanded by voters and taxpayers, but also provide direct and indirect benefits to everyone.

And while Rauner’s financial mismanagement made things decidedly worse, the truth is Illinois’ fiscal problems are structural, have vexed lawmakers for generations and are so bad they’ve forced real cuts to be made in those four core service areas for decades. Indeed, when Pritzker first took office in 2019, Illinois was spending some $8 billion, or 24.4% less (after adjusting for inflation), on education, healthcare, social services and public safety than it had back in FY 2000 under Republican Governor George Ryan.

To his credit, Pritzker largely put Illinois’ fiscal house in order. He reduced the General Fund operating deficit from 30% to below 2%, generated interest cost savings by prepaying loans and pension contributions, got the Unemployment Insurance Fund healthy and built-up Illinois’ rainy day fund from zero dollars — Rauner had totally depleted it — to north of $2 billion. This created the fiscal capacity to start making some enhanced investments in core services that had previously been cut — although total spending today is still below FY 2000 levels in real terms.

Unfortunately, recent projections show the General Fund deficit will begin to worsen next fiscal year and continue to deteriorate thereafter. And no, overspending is not now, and as the afore-cited data prove never has been, the driver of General Fund deficits. The real culprit has always been a poorly designed state tax system that fails to comport with the principles of sound taxation, doesn’t track the modern economy and hence fails to generate enough revenue growth to cover the cost of maintaining the same level of public services from one year into the next.

To top things off, Illinois is on the verge of incurring a significant new financial obligation. See, historically Illinois was exempt from enrolling the vast majority of state workers — or any public school teachers — in Social Security. Which means Illinois didn’t have to pony-up the 6.2% of payroll needed to contribute into the system. But that exemption only pertains for so long as benefits provided under Illinois’ pension systems are at least equivalent to benefits provided under Social Security.

In 2010, Illinois created a new, Tier II pension plan that not only provides a significantly lesser benefit than under the prior Tier I plan, it also requires that Tier II members pay the same portion of their wages for these lesser benefits as Tier I members pay for greater benefits. Besides being patently unfair, Tier II runs afoul of the rules that allow Illinois to avoid enrolling folks in Social Security.

Since Illinois can’t afford to enroll all exempt state employees — and all public school teachers — in Social Security, it’ll have to increase Tier II benefits. Paying for that will be a challenge, because current tax policy doesn’t generate enough revenue to continue funding what the state does today, much less handle new costs.

This conundrum actually creates an opportunity. After living for generations with flawed tax policies that force Illinois to underfund core services, lawmakers can use the need to solve the pending Tier II fiscal crisis as an impetus for reforming state tax policy to work in the modern economy, finally allowing Illinois to make adequate and sustainable investments in the core services that build better communities.

Ralph Martire is Executive Director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a fiscal policy think tank, and the Arthur Rubloff Professor of Public Policy at Roosevelt University. rmartire@ctbaonline.org

Above is from:  https://www.dailyherald.com/20231216/columns/fixing-tier-ii-issue-can-be-both-costly-and-an-opportunity/

Current Status of General Mills New Warehouse

Rockford Register Star

Belvidere General Mills warehouse was supposed to open months ago. Here's the hold up

By Chris Green, Rockford Register Star,

1 day ago

The exterior of the massive General Mills warehouse and distribution center at 1210 Irene Road is complete and the landscaping is in place, but the anticipated fall opening date has been pushed back.

Belvidere Mayor Clint Morris said the company, which broke ground in August 2022, is now eyeing a late winter-early spring opening due to a shipping delay.

"They're still waiting on supplies," he said.

Exactly what supplies and equipment have yet to arrive is not clear.

"It could be storage racks, maybe forklifts. I don't know," Morris said.

General Mills still is on pace to hire 55 to 75 people, Morris said, as was written into its agreement with the city.

The 1.3 million-square-foot warehouse and distribution center will be state-of-the-art with an unspecified level of automation, but will not be fully automated, Morris said.

"From the city's perspective, this is about creating jobs," he said. "There will be workers out there."

General Mills has been a part of the Belvidere community for over 20 years and currently operates a specialty foods manufacturing plant at 915 E. Pleasant St. where it produces cereals and food for the company's Nature Valley and Fiber One brands.

Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen

Above is from:  https://local.newsbreak.com/belvidere-il/3262791622116-belvidere-general-mills-warehouse-was-supposed-to-open-months-ago-heres-the-hold-up?s=dmg_local_email_bucket_14.web2_fromweb

Steer Tailing on way to be banned in Boone County?

Boone County committee votes to ban steer tailing. Here's a closer look

Northern Public Radio | By Maria Gardner Lara

Published December 8, 2023 at 10:48 AM CST

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Maria Gardner Lara

Boone County animal show ad hoc committee member Dara Mogenis speaks during a meeting on December 5, 2023.

A Boone County board committee reviewing rodeo ordinances passed a motion to ban steer tailing this month. It’s the sole event held at Mexican-style rodeos in the county.

The organization behind the drive for the ban is S.H.A.R.K., Showing Animals Respect and Kindness. The nonprofit animal rights group has heavily campaigned for the ban on the Mexican-style rodeos around the country including at Boone County.

Steve Hindi leads the nonprofit. In remarks in a recent video posted on his group's social media page, he said, “There’s something very, very, wrong in Boone County. The place reeks of corruption. We’ve identified three board members who will support these cruel rodeos no matter how much evidence we pile up.”

Hindi also claimed that the Boone County State’s Attorney’s office is working to protect the rodeos.

The page reaches thousands of followers from around the world and his posts often include a call to action for supporters to contact government officials who he feels haven’t taken the action they desire.

Some targets of S.H.A.R.K. tell WNIJ the group goes too far and that the tactics amount to harassment.

S.H.A.R.K. is registered in Geneva, Illinois. In 2020, tax returns show the organization had net assets around a half a million dollars, including $200,280 in contributions. In 2021, contributions were $297,735 and net assets were $374,429.

S.H.A.R.K. is also a party to a lawsuit against the county regarding the permitting of the rodeos. According to reports, the animal rights group argues that the county is not enforcing laws on animal cruelty, even though it's submitted videos demonstrating animal abuse.

In an interview with Hindi in November, he said one of the things that he finds cruel about the Mexican Style rodeos is participants’ use of long electric prods to move the animals—but his beliefs run deeper:

“We are opposed to all rodeos because all rodeos treat animals cruelly,” Hindi said.

He hasn’t called for a ban on American rodeos, such as the events held at the Boone County Fairgrounds.

Hindi said he focuses on banning the Mexican style rodeos in the county because he finds them to practice a larger degree of cruelty compared to American rodeos.

PETA, a national animal rights group, advocates for a ban on all rodeos.

Rodeo operators tell WNIJ that in the 2023 rodeo season, participants were no longer using those prods.

The Boone County ad hoc committee has been reviewing items regarding the Mexican-style rodeos held in the county since August. They’ve discussed defining what a rodeo is, liquor at the events and security, with no definitive resolution.

But when it came to steer tailing, the committee concluded on the item rather quickly and voted to ban animal tailing after holding discussions at the same meeting.

Board member Alisa Patterson opposed the move.

“I think we're doing a disservice to spend an hour and 15 minutes talking about this,” Patterson said.

"And we're going to vote on something without coming up with one thing that can make this thing safer for the steers, and for the riders,” she said.

Steer tailing is the only rodeo event held at Mexican-style rodeos hosted throughout the county. It involves a person on horse attempting to knock down a neutered male bull by its tail.

Prior to the vote, Dara Mogenis, a community member on the committee, played a video of incidents where animals were injured in rodeos held in the county. She’s a huge opponent of the Mexican style rodeos.

“It's very difficult for me and some of the other people here in the audience to think, 'How can it be done safely?,'” she said.

“And that would be a question to ask the rodeo participants, is there a safe way to do it? I can't see one.”

County board member Dave Wiltse said in addition to concern for the animals shown in the video, he’s also worried about those who may not visibly show any harm.

“How about all the other steers that didn't break anything?” he said .

“[The steer] ran 20 times in competition and stood in the pans and had pain from being dumped; fear from being in the chute again, to be run again."

County board member Alisa Patterson said she’s seen all of S.H.A.R.K. produced videos. While she doesn’t want animals to get hurt either, she finds it unfair to include videos filmed in 2022— prior to more recent code being implemented.

“There were differences between 2022 and 2023,” she said.

“And by continually mixing those things together, you're not getting a clearer picture of what's going on,“ Patterson said.

The county sheriff log of calls for 2023 regarding rodeos show a decrease in allegations of animal cruelty from the prior year.

In 2022, there were 19 rodeos held and five complaints alleging animal cruelty. This year, nine events were held and there was one allegation of an injured steer that’s under investigation.

Gracie Robles, a rodeo operator, said four of the nine rodeos this year were held on her property. She noted there were no complaints made in connection to her events.

Robles attributed the decrease in incidents due to the new codes.

“We are willing to do what we need to do,” she said.

“In some cases, when we aren't able, we're not holding an event.”

Beginning this year, veterinarians were required to be on call during the rodeos, participants are required to wear bib numbers, and there must be security personnel who are state licensed.

Banning electric prods is not part of the code. She said this year participants no longer use them.

Another issue that was discussed was the number of runs steers make in the competitions.

“They're not supposed to be overworked, they're given a break, but still are not meant to run over and over and over,” Mogenis said.

In response, Robles, the only rodeo owner on the committee, said steers don’t run nonstop. She said on average they rent 60 steers for the daylong events. They're divided into three groups and they rotate every hour.

County board member Sherry Branson and other members made comparisons to the competitions held in the county to professional rodeos and the associations that govern them.

But Robles says their events are different.

“These guys that come to our events are not professionals,” Roble said. "That's why we have to get this permit because it's an informal competition,” she said.

Board action

The committee voted five to three to ban animal tailing. Board member Tom Walberg voted against it.

He said he does not support animal abuse and believes it’s best if animal services handles allegations of harm.

“Those are the folks that really need to be dealing with these issues as opposed to county board members trying to regulate or create ordinances to fix a problem that we don't maybe totally understand," Walberg said.

Also, he doesn’t think the board should have rushed into making a decision that is complex.

“I certainly want to be mindful to all constituents in Boone County,” he said, “and give them every opportunity to voice all their concerns and try to make the best decision.”

What's next

All recommendations the committee makes will need approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals before it’s presented to the county board for a final vote.

County actions on the Mexican-style rodeos have been contentious. WNIJ has previously reported how some Latino leaders were concerned that some remarks made during board meetings in opposition to Mexican-style rodeos have been tinged with racism.

Nationally, the Los Angeles City Council recently voted unanimously to ban all rodeos, despite opposition from charreria aficionados and Professional Bull Riders, Inc., which annually visits the city as part of its Professional Bull Riders tour.

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Maria Gardner Lara