Dozens of AARP members piled into the main hall of Erin’s Pavilion on Aug. 20 to hear what local politicians had to say about problems facing retired communities in
Springfield. The event also served as a 90th anniversary celebration for the Social Security Act signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
AARP Illinois senior director of advocacy and outreach Ryan Gruenenfelder warned the crowd that the 100th birthday may have a gloomier mood with an impending Social Security funding gap beginning in 2034, unless action is taken by Congress.
“It will be able to pay 80% of benefits from the year 2034 moving forward, that’s what
the Social Security Trustees report says,” Gruenenfelder told the crowd. “People will lose, on average, about $4,000 per year of their Social Security benefits if they don’t close that particular gap.”
He informed the audience that the benefit gap is something AARP has genuine concern over and is communicating with federal elected officials about. AARP reports retired workers in Sangamon County receive average payments totaling around $23,000 each year while disabled workers receive roughly $17,500 annually.
“There are options to change it and we are just working hard with those federal elected officials to make sure that they are going to prioritize making changes to fix that gap before we get to the year 2034, so the program is here for you,” he said. “We have been hearing from people of all ages, not just older adults… talking with college students about it and how they expect the program to be there.”
Gruenenfelder said AARP Illinois invited multiple federal officials, although none were in attendance.
To answer his and members’ questions were Mayor Misty Buscher, state Rep. Mike
Coffey, and state Sens. Doris Turner and Steve McClure.
Energy costs
While the discussion varied from local to national issues, energy costs along with data
centers and the resulting community costs in power and water bills ended up front and center. Buscher, who reminded the audience that the mayor of Springfield is also CEO of CWLP, said Springfield can keep energy costs low due to the city’s ability to generate its own power.
“If we stop generating power, we will lose the power of you having an affordable bill.
Balancing our portfolio is extremely important to me as your mayor to give you your
energy. Make it reliable, affordable energy,” Buscher said. “We have many solar
contracts that we have hammered out in my short two years there. We are increasing
our portfolio; it already had wind in it, now it has solar.”
She said the city is exploring how to repurpose its coal-fired power plant, which supplied almost 35% of the power Springfield consumed in 2024, as state law requires the coal power plants to close by 2045.
“We’re doing a study to convert that to a different form of energy,” Buscher said before turning her attention to the prospect of data centers in Springfield. “Data centers do pull a lot of, not just energy, but water as well.”
She noted how data center energy usage is something the city is keeping an eye on.
“We want to make sure if we have those in our community, we balance that and do not overload our community with that so you still have ample supply of power and water. And we are watching that from the municipal level, just so you know,” she said.
In 2022, Gov. JB Pritzker announced a new data center to be built in Springfield for the state’s technology sector, the Department of Innovation and Technology, originally set to be completed by fall 2026. The state paid roughly $1.5 million for the almost 10 acres of land in a business park just off South Dirksen Parkway.
More than three and a half years since the announcement, ground has yet to be broken and documents from the Capital Development Board show the project was expected to be over budget until an additional $65 million was allocated to the project in late 2024.
Coffey, who represents parts of Sangamon County and whose family owns and
operates Saputo’s and Papa Frank’s, claimed the decision to move away from coal
power plants – which the National Institutes of Health and Environmental Protection
Agency have deemed hazardous to both human and environmental health – is part of a “global agenda” that will cause Springfield residents to pay more money for power.
“They’re going to shut down this power plant here, and they’re going to go buy the same power in Missouri from the same kind of power plant, the same kind of power in Indiana, and they’re going to transport it in here,” he said. “They’ll be able to say, ‘We got clean energy in Illinois and we are all perfect,’ but they’re still buying the same power from a coal-powered plant.”
Coffey added he is supportive of a diverse energy portfolio but questions the ability to
replace the power that Springfield’s coal plant provides.
Editor’s Note: Previous version of this story referenced the 90% of energy generated in Springfield for the city, it has been corrected to 35%.
This article appears in Fall Guide 2025.
Mike Coffey says One Thing and does another. Forget What Mike Coffey SAYS. Watch what Mike Coffey Does! He voted YES to SB 1817. That law turns LANDLORDS in Illinois into Criminals! If a Landlord will not rent his empty apartment to an Illegal alien because he is here illegally, that landlord will be charged with a CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATION! Which is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. JUST SAY NO TO MIKE COFFEY!!