By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington State Senator Jason Barickman is commending Governor Rauner for proposing balanced budget, but he has reservations about Rauner’s plan to shift pension costs from state government to local school districts.

The Republican lawmaker told WJBC’s Sam Wood he wants to make sure Rauner’s proposal does not lead school districts like Unit 5 and District 87 to raise property taxes.

“It will be incredibly important to make sure that we’re not creating unintended consequences by shifting costs to school districts that can’t afford it or to areas that are simply going to respond by driving up property taxes,” said Barickman.

Barickman noted despite the changes being made that will impact public institutions in Illinois, at the end of the day the state needs a balanced budget.

“Cost shift to [Illinois State University], changes in health benefits are going to have an impact on ISU, we’ve got to be very careful in how we go about this,” Barickman explained. “But that should in no way undermine from the message of the day, which is we’ve got to come out with a balanced budget.”

Rauner said his pension proposal would save the state a billion dollars. He also wants to remove health insurance from collective bargaining negotiations with state employee unions, and roll back part of last year’s income tax increase.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected].