As a member of the Cook County Finance Committee on Pensions, now is the time for a “clarion call” to begin a conversation around addressing the Cook County pension fund. Our underfunded pension liability not only threatens the promise we have made to our most valuable assets, our employees, but it also threatens the fiscal health of our County. The price of doing nothing is just too great, and the time for decisive action is now.

This valuable information on OpenPensions.org will, hopefully, serve as a catalyst for dialogue that will ultimately create a stable and sustainable fund for all of our County employees, both past, present and future. The first step in addressing this looming crisis is to understand just how we arrived at this point and what our options are moving forward. The Truth In Numbers report issued on the Cook County Pension Fund located on the OpenPensions.org website parses through technical statistics and actuarial data to illustrate data in a user-friendly and understandable manner. Most importantly, as a County employee myself, the information concisely explains what this means for me and how my pension is affected. I believe other County employees will find this information and I encourage everyone to engage in the conversation.

Timothy Schneider
Cook County Commissioner – 15th District
Member, Pension Subcommittee