Updates to faculty layoff plan and other stuff

General Campus News, Updates, Discussion
wiu712
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Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed shifting the responsibility for paying pension costs to local school districts and public universities in an attempt to balance the state budget Wednesday.

Rauner said in his budget address that the pension revamp will cut $1 billion in taxes, claiming that the legislature can no longer increase the income tax and instead, a heavy pension reform is needed.

If passed, this plan will be phased in over the course of four years and those at the “employer level” will pay the pensions in 25 percent increments per year, Rauner said.

Charlie Wheeler, the director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois–Springfield, said the difficulty is figuring how the universities will be able to afford picking up the pension costs, which he said is not possible.

Such a shift would result in potential fee increases, tuition increases or cuts, depending on each university and the actual numbers resulting from the pension costs, Wheeler said.
rocki
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wiu712 wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:32 am Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed shifting the responsibility for paying pension costs to local school districts and public universities in an attempt to balance the state budget Wednesday.

Rauner said in his budget address that the pension revamp will cut $1 billion in taxes, claiming that the legislature can no longer increase the income tax and instead, a heavy pension reform is needed.

If passed, this plan will be phased in over the course of four years and those at the “employer level” will pay the pensions in 25 percent increments per year, Rauner said.

Charlie Wheeler, the director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois–Springfield, said the difficulty is figuring how the universities will be able to afford picking up the pension costs, which he said is not possible.

Such a shift would result in potential fee increases, tuition increases or cuts, depending on each university and the actual numbers resulting from the pension costs, Wheeler said.
And this is a problem, how?
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ST_Lawson
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rocki wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:29 am
wiu712 wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:32 am Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed shifting the responsibility for paying pension costs to local school districts and public universities in an attempt to balance the state budget Wednesday.

Rauner said in his budget address that the pension revamp will cut $1 billion in taxes, claiming that the legislature can no longer increase the income tax and instead, a heavy pension reform is needed.

If passed, this plan will be phased in over the course of four years and those at the “employer level” will pay the pensions in 25 percent increments per year, Rauner said.

Charlie Wheeler, the director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois–Springfield, said the difficulty is figuring how the universities will be able to afford picking up the pension costs, which he said is not possible.

Such a shift would result in potential fee increases, tuition increases or cuts, depending on each university and the actual numbers resulting from the pension costs, Wheeler said.
And this is a problem, how?
If they ramp up funding for the schools and universities, then it isn't really. The problem is, most schools can't afford to fully pay pensions at this point, considering how low funding has been over the last decade or so.
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Tere North
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ST_Lawson wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 12:51 pm
rocki wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:29 am
wiu712 wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:32 am Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed shifting the responsibility for paying pension costs to local school districts and public universities in an attempt to balance the state budget Wednesday.

Rauner said in his budget address that the pension revamp will cut $1 billion in taxes, claiming that the legislature can no longer increase the income tax and instead, a heavy pension reform is needed.

If passed, this plan will be phased in over the course of four years and those at the “employer level” will pay the pensions in 25 percent increments per year, Rauner said.

Charlie Wheeler, the director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois–Springfield, said the difficulty is figuring how the universities will be able to afford picking up the pension costs, which he said is not possible.

Such a shift would result in potential fee increases, tuition increases or cuts, depending on each university and the actual numbers resulting from the pension costs, Wheeler said.
And this is a problem, how?
If they ramp up funding for the schools and universities, then it isn't really. The problem is, most schools can't afford to fully pay pensions at this point, considering how low funding has been over the last decade or so.
But honestly, why aren't schools paying the pensions. With social security, they employer and the employee pay, not the federal government, even though the retirement account is federally managed. Why not the same for schools if they don't want employees to participate in social security. Consider the same percentage of employee and employer contributions as per social security, more if they want better pension payouts. Let the state be responsible for getting resolving the pension deficit that the state caused by too many pension holidays.
wiu712
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rocki wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:29 amAnd this is a problem, how?
Well, rocki, this could be a big problem if the pension costs become the responsibility of the state university instead of the State. And Rauner is also proposing making the state university pay for the employee's health insurance.

Paying for the pensions and the insurance will take a lot of money out of Western's pocket. That money will have to come from one of these sources (or a combination of them):
1. Increasing tuition.
2. Cutting programs and services (academics, athletics, etc).
3. Laying off employees.
wiu712
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Tere North wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 2:04 pmBut honestly, why aren't schools paying the pensions.
There is a BIG difference between the 12 state universities compared to the state's public K-12 schools and the state's community colleges. The latter two have taxing authority and the ability to generate funds via taxation. The 12 state universities do not have any taxing authority.

Employees at Western are no different from the State Police, Correctional employees, IDOT workers, etc. They are all state employees.
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Tere North
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wiu712 wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 8:13 pm
Tere North wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 2:04 pmBut honestly, why aren't schools paying the pensions.
There is a BIG difference between the 12 state universities compared to the state's public K-12 schools and the state's community colleges. The latter two have taxing authority and the ability to generate funds via taxation. The 12 state universities do not have any taxing authority.

Employees at Western are no different from the State Police, Correctional employees, IDOT workers, etc. They are all state employees.
What % does the university employer pay toward pensions vs what % an employer pays toward social security? Likewise, what % does the university employee pay toward pensions vs what % an employee pays toward social security? This is not a property tax question, but a question of university employer/employee contribution toward pensions vs regular employer/employee contribution toward social security.
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Tere North
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Tere North wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:16 pm
wiu712 wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 8:13 pm
Tere North wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2018 2:04 pmBut honestly, why aren't schools paying the pensions.
There is a BIG difference between the 12 state universities compared to the state's public K-12 schools and the state's community colleges. The latter two have taxing authority and the ability to generate funds via taxation. The 12 state universities do not have any taxing authority.

Employees at Western are no different from the State Police, Correctional employees, IDOT workers, etc. They are all state employees.
What % does the university employer pay toward pensions vs what % an employer pays toward social security? Likewise, what % does the university employee pay toward pensions vs what % an employee pays toward social security? This is not a property tax question, but a question of university employer/employee contribution toward pensions vs regular employer/employee contribution toward social security.
I did some checking, both the employer and the employee pay 6.2% social security tax and 1.45% medicare tax.

There is a social security floor such that once salary exceeds $127,200 no more is paid as anything over that amount doesn't gain credit toward social security. There is also a medicare surcharge of 0.9% for the employee only once salary exceeds $200k.

That means in terms of "pensions," 12.4% of salary is contributed. Anyone know what employee and employer SURS rates?
wiu712
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Tere North wrote: Fri Feb 16, 2018 1:51 amAnyone know what employee and employer SURS rates?
Employee contributions to SURS are equal to 8% of your gross earnings, including earnings for overtime and summer sessions.

Full-time community college employees (except City Colleges of Chicago) pay an additional 0.5% of earnings to fund a health insurance plan devised for community college retirees.

If you began working for a SURS-covered employer on or after April 1, 1986, your employer is required to deduct contributions for Medicare from your gross earnings. Currently, this contribution equals 1.45% of gross earnings.

Traditional and Portable Plans:
The state contribution is a varying amount that is actuarially determined each year. The Illinois pension code requires the state to contribute an amount each year necessary for the System to become funded at 90% of assets to liabilities by the end of the state fiscal year 2045.

Self-Managed plan (SMP)
The state contributions toward SMP equal 7.6% of earnings. Approximately 7.3% of those earnings will go directly to the member's individual SMP account. The remainder is used to provide you with the eligibility for disability benefits.
rocki
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Please inform me, because I do not know the specifics of the University pensions. Is it true that health insurance is paid not only on the retiree, but their spouse/partner as well until they pass?

And, if you're going to compare to SS, there is no "55 and 20 years service" and you are able to retire on simply SS. And, besides the age starting at 65, it is increasing now according to the year you were born. A lot of people are up to the 66 + age now.
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