Christina M. Tobin, Free and Equal CEO and Vice President of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI), will be working with Oak Park activist Noel Kuriakos of the Citizens Alliance of Oak Park and other activists all weekend and on Monday to oppose the proposed Dist. 97 property tax increase on the Tuesday, April 5, tax increase ballot.
“We will be passing out Vote No flyers and talking with Oak Park residents all day Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday” said Tobin. “I have a personal stake in this, as I will be moving to Oak Park in the near future and oppose increasing property taxes to fund the outrageous, lavish gold-plated salaries and benefits Dist. 97 teachers and administrators are getting.”
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JO DAVIESS COUNTY- The sky-high pensions of Jo Daviess County’s retired government employees exceed the wages of those in the private sector.
Those receiving the largest annual pensions are retired government-school educators. At $108,569 a year, Dennis Dunton (Galena USD 120) tops the list, making $9,047 a month. Coming in second is David Wongstrom (River Ridge CUSD 210) with an annual pension of $105,298, which comes out to $8,775 a month.
Click the links below to view the full list.
Click here to view Jo Daviess top Teacher Retirement System pensions
Click here to view Jo Daviess top IMRF pensions
MOLINE–A new report by pension researcher Bill Zettler reveals that Rock Island, Henry and Mercer County-area retired government employees receive lavish, gold-plated pensions that far exceed actual wages of workers in the private sector.
“These government-employee pensions are bankrupting the state pension funds,” said Jim Tobin, President of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI). “That’s the real reason Gov. Patrick Quinn (D) wants to raise the state personal income tax up to 67%. He wants to pump taxpayer dollars into the state’s floundering pension programs.”
Jim Tobin talks to ABC TV, FOX TV, the Moline Dispatch and the Rock Island Argus at a press conference on December 16, 2010.
“Those receiving the largest annual pensions are retired government-school educators,” said Tobin. “Rock Island County’s retired public school teachers in the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) are really raking it in. The largest annual TRS pension goes to Randall Whitlock (United TWP HSD 30), whose annual pension is $132,931 — $11,078 a month. For Henry/Mercer counties, the largest retired-teacher pension goes to Harold Ford (Geneseo CUSD 228), whose annual pension is $117,731 — $9,811 a month.”
“The largest Rock Island Community College pension goes to Dorothy Beck, who received an annual pension of $103,277 — $8,606 a month. The largest annual pension for Mercer County goes to Kendall Pottorff, formerly employed by Aledo CUSD 201, who received an annual pension of $ 81,776 — $6,815 a month.”
“With an average individual income of $30,500 for Mercer County, $36,600 for Henry County and a median household income of $46,060 for Rock Island County, these county residents are stagnating, while many of these retired government employees are well on their way to becoming pension millionaires.”
“These retired government employees are sucking the system dry. But there is no need to raise the state income tax or cut government services. Three crucial reforms can save the system and spare Illinois taxpayers. New government hires should be required to fund their own retirements with 401(k) plans. Ending pensions for new government hires will eventually eliminate unfunded government pensions.”
“In Illinois, if each current state pension fund employee were required to contribute an additional 10% to his or her pension, taxpayers would save over $150 billion over the next 35 years. Requiring Illinois public employees to pay for one-half of their health care premiums would save even more – an estimated $230 billion over current projections.”
Click here to view this release as a PDF
Click here to view Rock Island’s top gov’t teacher and College pensions
Click here to view Rock Island’s top IMRF pensions
Click here to view Henry County’s top IMRF and gov’t teacher pensions
Click here to view Mercer County’s top IMRF pensions
