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CHICAGO—The plan offered by Springfield’s “bipartisan pension committee” to cut Illinois’ government pension costs is ineffectual and a public-relations stunt, charged the president of one of the nation’s largest taxpayer organizations.
“The committee’s solution is to eventually cut the cost-of-living increases (COLA) of government pensions to half the size of the consumer price index,” said Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America. “That sounds nice, because the current COLA is a compounding 3%. But if the inflation rate rises to 6%, the increase will go back up to 3%, with full compounding. If the inflation rate rises to 11.03%, as it was in 1974, the COLA for retired government employees will be a compounded 5.5%. This plan may sound good when quoted by the media, but it will do nothing to fix the pension problem, and may even make it worse.”
“One solution that would help to cut the ballooning government-pension pension deficits is to eliminate the cost-of-living increase. These retired government employees don’t need it. Their pensions already are sky-high. For example, the top 200 Illinois State Police retirees all collect more than $102,000 a year, and the average retirement age of this top 200 group is 52.”
“The New York Times reported that Chicago average annual pension benefits range from about $34,000 for a general-services retiree to $78,000 for a former teacher with 30 years of service. The top 200 Chicago government-teacher pensions are all over $115,000 per year. Compare that with a retiree in the private sector with an average Social Security benefit of $14,800 a year.”
“Real pension reform must include placing all new government hires in 401(k) plans, eliminating the cost-of-living increases, increasing the retirement age to 67, increasing government-employee pension contributions by 10%, and requiring employees and retirees to pay half of their medical insurance premiums. Paying half their medical insurance premiums alone would save $230 billion over 35 years.”
TUA’s commentary on a new “rain tax” in DuPage County was featured in an article at Daily Herald.
It could take years for DuPage County officials to decide whether to impose a stormwater utility fee on every landowner in the county — but some residents already are organizing to oppose the idea.
More than 30 people staged a protest Tuesday night in front of the county administration building in response to a new state law giving DuPage the ability to charge property owners a fee to help pay for countywide efforts to control stormwater runoff.
The protesters who lined County Farm Road in Wheaton carried umbrellas and homemade signs that referred to the proposed fee as a “rain tax.” A government watchdog group issued a statement before the protest urging taxpayers to contact DuPage politicians.
“This bizarre bill allows ‘stormwater utility fees’ on all properties in DuPage County, including homes, businesses, schools, churches and forest preserves,” said Jim Tobin, president of the Chicago-based Taxpayers United of America. “This could be the largest tax increase in DuPage County history.”
The proposed fee would charge property owners based on use, similar to gas or water bills. Those who have more stormwater leaving their land would pay a higher fee. Anyone with land producing less stormwater runoff would pay a lower fee.
DuPage officials say the idea would make it possible for stormwater costs to be removed from property tax bills. They claim it could save homeowners money because every land owner in the county would have to pay it, including those who currently contribute nothing because they don’t pay property taxes.
However, opponents who took their complaints to Tuesday night’s county board meeting said the fee would put an undue burden on schools, churches, nonprofits and other tax-exempt entities.
“The people don’t want a stormwater fee on their property,” said resident Tom Sutton, who lives in Wayne. “This fee is unfair.”
Wheaton resident Janet Shaw questioned the county’s ability to accurately determine the amount of stormwater runoff individual residential properties are producing.
She also said it wouldn’t help land owners to encourage them to install expensive “green” infrastructures on their properties to reduce their fee.
“The whole thing makes no sense at all,” she said. “Nobody in this county wants it.”
Jim Zay, chairman of the county board’s stormwater committee, said it’s “very premature” for stormwater fee opponents to lobby the board because it could take two years before a final vote happens.
“We’re going to have an open process,” Zay said. “There’s a big timeline on this.”
He said nothing will happen until after a feasibility study is done to determine what stormwater needs exist in DuPage and how much it would cost to address them.
Feedback also would be sought from municipalities, businesses, community groups, residents and others.
“As far as we’re concerned, we’re far away from finding out what’s going on,” Zay said.
Even if the stormwater fee is adopted, DuPage would spend two years doing public outreach and education before sending out the first bill.
TUA’s commentary on a new “rain tax” in DuPage County was featured in an article at My Suburban Life.
The president of Taxpayers United of America called upon DuPage County taxpayers Tuesday to protest the possibility of a stormwater utility fee in DuPage County.
TUA President Jim Tobin called the possible fee a “rain tax.”
Tobin’s remarks come about two weeks after Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed House Bill 1522, allowing DuPage County to charge property owners a utility fee that would be based on the amount of stormwater displaced by property.
The bill requires a two-year planning and education process before the county can put the fee in place. The fee would require a county board vote.
“This bizarre bill allows ‘stormwater utility fees’ on all properties in DuPage County, including homes, businesses, schools, churches and forest preserves,” Tobin said in a statement. “This could be the largest tax increase in DuPage County history.”
DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin has said the county stormwater fee would be more equitable than the current method of using property taxes to fund stormwater infrastructure, because a fee would be based on the amount of stormwater displaced by a property. The infrastructure improvements would aim to alleviate flooding issues during large rainfalls.
“If you’re a big developer and you put down a large, 50,000-square-feet parking lot of concrete, and you displace a lot of water to your neighbor downstream, you’ll pay more,” Cronin said when the House passed the bill. “If you take steps to install semi-permeable pavers and rain barrels at home, your fee will be a lot less, you’ll get credit for it. It’s the ultimate in responsible behavior policy.”
The county fee would be similar to the fee created by Downers Grove this year for village property owners. While the village of Downers Grove cut property taxes nearly $2 million this year to account for the separate fee, the county has not said whether it would cut property taxes in a similar fashion.
Tobin’s remarks come about two weeks after Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed House Bill 1522, allowing DuPage County to charge property owners a utility fee that would be based on the amount of stormwater displaced by property.
The bill requires a two-year planning and education process before the county can put the fee in place. The fee would require a county board vote.
“This bizarre bill allows ‘stormwater utility fees’ on all properties in DuPage County, including homes, businesses, schools, churches and forest preserves,” Tobin said in a statement. “This could be the largest tax increase in DuPage County history.”
DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin has said the county stormwater fee would be more equitable than the current method of using property taxes to fund stormwater infrastructure, because a fee would be based on the amount of stormwater displaced by a property. The infrastructure improvements would aim to alleviate flooding issues during large rainfalls.
“If you’re a big developer and you put down a large, 50,000-square-feet parking lot of concrete, and you displace a lot of water to your neighbor downstream, you’ll pay more,” Cronin said when the House passed the bill. “If you take steps to install semi-permeable pavers and rain barrels at home, your fee will be a lot less, you’ll get credit for it. It’s the ultimate in responsible behavior policy.”
The county fee would be similar to the fee created by Downers Grove this year for village property owners. While the village of Downers Grove cut property taxes nearly $2 million this year to account for the separate fee, the county has not said whether it would cut property taxes in a similar fashion.
