PEORIA, Ill. — Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis and several Illinois mayors are pushing for more pension overhauls, especially for police and fire departments.
Ardis said state mandated pension payments for police and fire departments have gone up significantly from six years ago.One local fire fighter said his love for the job and benefits have keep him in the department.
Peoria firefighter Andre Harper has about eight years left in the department before he would be eligible for retirement.
The 50-year-old father of three expects to get about 70-percent of his salary monthly under the current pension system. Harper said sweeping changes in the pension program could hurt his standard of living.
“If somebody’s talking about doing like 20 or 30 percent from what you gross is gonna be that’s a big change for anybody, so yeah that would hurt,” he said.
Right now Peoria firefighters pay 9.45-percent of their salaries toward pension compared to 10-percent police contribute.
The mayor said pension payments have gone up. He said for every dollar the city pays for wages, an extra 50 cents goes towards firefighters pensions and 41 cents for police officers.
Peoria firefighters local 50 president Tony Ardis disagrees.
“If they want to talk about what’s choking the city and what’s not, let’s look at all of them. Let’s look at all the increases of all the pensions and they refuse to talk about the IMRF,” he said.
Tony Ardis said part of the problem has been getting groups like the Illinois Municipal League and union groups in Springfield to the negotiating table.