A good article even if there is fair amount of CYA.
But I still disagree that pensions aren't generous by comparison to private sector.
From I can tell prior to the 2011 pension change a Chicago teacher could retire at 55 (more realistically 56 if they started right out of college.) after 34 years and retire. They will be eligible for 75% of the 4 highest years pay.
Now according to this article in
Slate the mean teacher salary in Chicago is $74,236, but of course somebody with 34 years is going to make well over the average. I'd guess it is 100K, but lets say it is only 90K. So the pension will be 75% of 90K or $5625 a month. An annuity for 56 year old female in IL will cost ~$1,167,000. But that is for a fixed annuity CPS teacher pension increase by 3% a year. I am not sure what the factor for a 3% pension increase should be over nearly 30 years. Life expectancy for a 56 year female is 28 years. I'll make a wild ass guess that $1.7-2 million would get you an annuity paying $5625 and increasing 3% a year.
Now a teacher starting off at 30K and after 30 years topping out at $90k salary and contribution 9% of their salary and earning 8% a year (per the historical CPS returns) will have saved $700K after 34 years. The shortfall $1.1 million to 1.3 million is the amount the state would have to match of the teacher pension. This implies a contribution of 14% to 16%. Now if we compare this to typical 401K match of 3-6% in the private sector, it is easy to reach the conclusion the pension are generous.
My rule of thumb is that public service pension are equivalent to 10% salary increase.
Now this doesn't excuse the borderline criminal behavior the elected official in not contributing to the pension fund, but I think if the public knew how expensive pensions really were perhaps thinks may have been different.