This week, the 19-member Pension Modernization Task Force will finalize its report on how Illinois should reform its retirement benefit program for government employees. The panel includes lawmakers, labor leaders, business representatives, and public pensioners.  Because they're still deliberating, we aren't sure exactly what their recommendations will be. But details are beginning to emerge. According to reporting from Doug Finke of the State Journal-Register, those hoping to move to a two-tiered system won't be happy with the results:

Another task force on Illinois’ massive state pension problems is set to wrap up its work next week, but it appears the group will not formally recommend changes to pension benefits as a way to save money. [...]

A draft copy of the task force report specifically blames lack of state funding — not too-generous benefits — for the financial problems facing the systems. The draft report says comparisons were made to public employee pension systems in other states and that Illinois’ systems “were generally found to be in the statistical median.”

The draft report also asserts that the cost of public pensions, measured as a percentage of payroll, are comparable to or less costly than private-sector retirement programs. The Civic Committee and Civic Federation of Chicago disagreed with that analysis. One version of the draft report included those disagreements; in another draft version circulated last week, the disagreements were deleted.

While we credited the Tribune editorial board for their TIF commentary today, their reaction to this news wasn't as reasonable. Blaming organized labor for stacking the panel and producing a "less than candid document," the paper blasts the report for failing to consider the size of pension benefit packages offered to state workers:

In a swift vote, though, the task force's labor sympathizers nixed all of [the proposed reforms]. In their view, the pension crisis has one root cause: Lawmakers haven't fully funded the system. In other words, taxpayers haven't put up enough money to pay all the benefits. The sheer size of those benefits? No problem there.

Amazingly, the Tribune declined to include any data about the average pensions received by Illinois state employees. Why?  Because those numbers blow a huge hole in their argument.

Indeed, it's hard to make the case that overly-generous pension benefits are sucking the state dry. When you combine workers in all five plans, the average retired Illinois state employee takes in just $17,112 a year. Most of that money is generated from employee and employer contributions (with the remainder generated by interest). And because roughly 75 percent of Illinois workers (most of whom are teachers) don't pay Social Security taxes while employed, they don't get any Social Security benefits when they retire.

As we've said before, there a plenty of reform proposals that make good sense. But the reason we're facing a pension crisis in this state is that Illinois lawmakers have avoided raising adequate revenue by intentionally underfunding the system for almost 40 years.  All the while, the employees themselves have continued making their full contributions.

If the Tribune thinks that hardworking state employees should live off of considerably less than $17,000 per year, that's fine.  But their readers should be able to decide if that amount is too much.  By leaving out those underlying numbers, the editorial board just perpetuates the myth that greedy state workers are driving the state into the ditch.

We'll offer a full analysis when the details of the report are released.