We were skeptical when leaders of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s pension task force planned to have legislation ready for the Oct. 28 veto session to help secure the future of downstate police and fire pensions, the cities and the taxpayers they serve.

We’re pleased to see we were wrong, and eager to share our support for the plan Pritzker unveiled Thursday to consolidate 649 downstate public safety pensions into two funds: one for firefighters and one for law enforcement. Each consolidated fund’s investments would be managed by an eight-member board made up of an equal number of representatives of municipalities and police officers or firefighters.

Requiring consolidation of a horde of public safety pension funds — which currently face a combined $11.5 billion in unfunded liabilities — would save taxpayers between $820 million and $2.5 billion over the next five years, according to the task force report.

Consolidation also would help ensure that public safety pensions in serious trouble would be saved to be there for current and future public safety retirees. Conversely, the condition of those funds will only get worse if nothing is done.

The task force, which has been meeting since January, estimates that every day these funds remain separate, nearly $1 million in potential investment returns are lost, “forcing most municipalities to rely on a never-ending cycle of increasing local property taxes or cutting services to meet their pension obligations.”

Illinois Quad-Cities-area taxpayers are well aware of the price underfunded pensions exact, and they know arguing over how that underfunding occurred in the first place does not do a thing to fix the  situation.

This plan is the most effective one we’ve seen to make any significant difference. It’s also not a new concept. Consolidation has been proposed before, but it has failed in the General Assembly after strong opposition from police and firefighter unions and the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association, which represents more than 600 local pension fund administrators who now control those investments.

There is cause for hope that this time could be different. The condition of most local public safety funds has become markedly worse, and more cities and local residents are demanding consolidation.

And while police unions and the fund association continue to oppose consolidation, the task force picked up a major ally in the Associated Firefighters of Illinois, which endorsed the task force report Thursday.

Pritzker’s leadership also should help in the Illinois House and Senate where historically lawmakers have been generous with pension sweeteners without providing the funds to help local governments pay for them.

That’s been a part of the recipe for disaster for all Illinois public pension funds, and Pritzker’s panel has been tasked with addressing the entire statewide pension crisis. For example, pension underfunding and rising costs for the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund for Rock Island County employees are among the reasons an 8.9 percent property tax hike has been proposed for RICo next year.

The task force was wise, however, to start with downstate public safety pension consolidation, since progress already has been made on that front.

Still, it will not be easy to accomplish in the face of claims by the Fraternal Order of Police that this is a money grab by state lawmakers who shouldn’t be trusted with officers’ money. The FOP also complains it was not given any real input on this plan, which is not surprising since its leaders made clear from the start that the FOP opposes fund consolidation, period.

Illinois taxpayers cannot afford to follow its lead.

Still skeptical? Look at your local pension contributions on your last few property tax bills, and think about that $1 million the task force says are lost in investment returns every day under the current system.

Then add your voice to the calls for downstate public safety pension fund consolidation by emailing or calling: