Quinn: Delay Retirement, Charge Employees More

Gov. Pat Quinn wants to raise the retirement age for Illinois public employees and require them to contribute more money to their retirement funds.

Those are the key parts of what Quinn calls a "bold plan'' to shore up state pension systems. They're now about $85 billion short of the money they'll eventually need.

The Democratic governor says the retirement age should be raised to 67 and employee contributions should climb by 3 percent.

He also wants downstate and suburban school districts to start contributing to the pensions of their employees. The state pays for that now.

At a Chicago news conference Friday, Quinn acknowledged the pension problem was largely caused by the state falling short. But the cost of his new plan mostly falls on workers.