McHenry County: More Than 1,000 Government Pension Millionaires

By on May 19, 2015   /   Illinois, Latest, Pension Reform, Taxpayer Alert  

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CHICAGO—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released the results of their updated study of the top pensioners of McHenry County, McHenry County government schools, McHenry County College, and McHenry and Crystal Lake municipalities.
“Well over 1,000 of the McHenry area government pensioners receive multi-million dollar lifetime pension payouts,” stated Jim Tobin, TUA president. “The pensioners’ average personal investment is only about 5.5% of the lifetime payouts.”
“While taxpayers struggle to make their property tax payments, working well beyond retirement age, these government pensioners enjoy lavish, gold-plated retirements beginning on average at the age of 58.”
“This is not a retirement system or a safety net for ‘the poor public servants’ who have given their lives to public service. This is theft. This is immoral and unethical theft of taxpayers’ hard-earned money to be given to the political elite to do absolutely nothing.”
“There are now 12,154 Illinois government pensions over $100,000 and 85,893 over $50,000 annually! Those are staggering numbers considering the taxpayers who fund these pensions get an average Social Security pension of about $15,000 a year.”
“Retired HSD 155 government employee, Michael E. Mills enjoys an annual taxpayer funded pension of $197,517. Over a normal lifetime, he will get about $6.5 million in pension payments. His personal investment in his rich pension is about 3.8% or $250,626.”
“Crystal Lake Park District retiree, Kirk R. Reimer retired at 55 and his current annual pension is $117,504.
Click to view pensions for:

“Although we did not support or endorse SB 1 as any kind of pension reform, as it did more harm than good, the unanimous ruling of the Illinois Supreme Court clearly illustrates the limited options available to solve the pension crisis…and the answers are not tax increases!”
“A constitutional amendment that is fair to taxpayers, as well as government employees, must be approved next year. In the meantime, if the Illinois General Assembly increased individual government employee contributions to their own gold-plated pensions by 10 percentage points, it would save taxpayers about $150 billion over the next 35 years, or about $4.3 billion a year, and save the State of Illinois from financial ruin. If all else fails, there is always the option of moving forward with legislation to begin the process of allowing municipalities and government schools to file for Chapter 9.”
“Taxpayers must pursue these three paths forward to avoid disastrously higher taxes in the immediate future.”
*Lifetime estimated pension payout includes 3% compounded COLA and assumes life expectancy of 85 (IRS Form 590).

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Illinois General Assembly Working to Steal the Rest of Your Money

By on May 11, 2015   /   Illinois, Latest, Pension Reform, Taxpayer Alert  

View as PDF Chicago – Taxpayers United of America (TUA) urges Illinois General Assembly to defeat HB 3695, which calls for a new property tax earmarked for funding the Chicago government pensions.
Summary of HB 3695 – Amends the School Code. Provides that a separate tax shall be levied by the Chicago Board of Education for the purpose of making an employer contribution to the Public School Teachers’ Pension and Retirement Fund of Chicago, at the rate of 0.26%; requires the proceeds from this separate tax to be paid directly to the Pension Fund. Makes a corresponding reduction in the rate limitation for the tax for general educational purposes. Effective immediately.
“We have written a letter to the State Senate, urging them to vote against this new property tax,” stated TUA president, Jim Tobin.
“You can take one look at the Chicago teacher pensions and see that any effort to take even more from taxpayers to fund the outrageous and excessive Chicago government school pensions is not only irresponsible, but immoral.”
View CPS Top 200 Pensions
“Whether you live in Chicago or not, it is critical that you take action and contact your state senator and insist they vote against this bill. Today it is only Chicago, but it won’t take long for union thugs to demand the same kind of new property tax for every school district in the state.”
“There isn’t an educated person who doesn’t understand that Illinois is in dire financial shape and adding any new taxes will be detrimental to the entire state.”
“This is clearly an attempt to prop up the failing pension system at any cost to taxpayers – even if you have to lose your home to do it. There are too many homeowners struggling to make the country’s second highest property tax payments at the current rate. How many will be forced out of their homes if the property taxes are driven up even further?”
“Although this legislation has been stated to be ‘highly partisan’, two Republicans are among the sponsors of this attempt to steal the rest of your money. Be sure to let Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R – Rockford) and Rep. David Harris (R – Mount Prospect) know that you won’t be sending them back to Springfield if they continue to sell us out for the corrupt pension cabal. Democratic sponsors of the new property tax include Sen. William Delgado (D – Chicago), Sen. Heather Steans (D – Chicago), Sen. Don Harmon (D – Oak Park), and Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D – Maywood).”
“Please, no matter where you live in Illinois, call your state senator and demand they vote no on HB 3695. The Chicago union thugs are counting on the rest of the state not to take action because they think it doesn’t affect you. Let’s show them that we are smarter than that.”
Click here to find your General Assembly contact information.

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QC | Former Moline superintendent tops Q-C pension list

By on May 7, 2015   /   Illinois, Illinois Press, Latest, Pension Reform, Press  

Taxpayers United of America’s operations director, Jared Labell, was quoted by QC Online in an article about Taxpayers United of America’s recent pension release for both Rock Island County and Moline.

A look at the pension list

Top Rock Island County pensions by city, county and school district. Does not include, among others, state employees such as judges, state police and Department of Corrections and Illinois Department of Transportation.A complete list of people receiving government pensions can be found at taxpayersunited.org.

Top pensions in city of Rock Island
John C. Phillips. Retired at 61. Current annual pension – $127,571.
Jack L. Fogel. Retired at 62. Current annual pension – $81,315.
Gregory S. Champagne. Retired at 62. Current annual pension – $79,926.
Robert T. Hawes. Retired at 64. Current annual pension – $79,261.
William S. Scott. Retired at 61. Current annual pension – $76,856.
Rock Island police
John D. Wright. Retired at 52. Current annual pension – $93,312.
Scott D. Harris. Retired at 53. Current annual pension – $86,370.
Wayne L. Sharer. Retired at 54. Current annual pension – $81,910.
Donald J. Reichert. Retired at 53. Current annual pension – $79,232.
Mark B. Poulos. Retired at 55. Current annual pension – $75,638.
Rock Island firefighters
Gary L. Mell. Retired at 58. Current annual pension – $88,592.
Jerry W. Shirk. Retired at 51. Current annual pension – $82,290.
Douglas R. Vroman. Retired at 52. Current annual pension – $82,137.
Albert C. Sinksen. Retired at 59. Current annual pension – $80,374.
Timothy E. Gibbons. Retired at 54. Current annual pension – 75,149.
Top pensions in city of Moline
Alan L. Efflandt. Retired at 50. Current annual pension – $82,930.
George H. Stevens. Retired at 59. Current annual pension – $82,462.
Sandro L. Kennedy. Retired at 56. Current annual pension – $74,914.
Elizabeth C. Clark. Retired at 58. Current annual pension – $64,984.
John R. Browning. Retired at 59. Current annual pension – $62,305.
Moline police
Floyd S. Etheridge. Current annual pension – $120,288.
Gary C. Francque. Current annual pension – $115,385.
Gregory S. Heist. Current annual pension – $94,419.
Douglas L. Burke. Current annual pension – $91,200.
Thomas E. Marxen. Current annual pension – $78,699.
* Age at retirement not available.
Moline firefighters
Ronald L. Miller. Current annual pension – $93,933.
Richard C. Jewell. Current annual pension – $84,418.
Ivan L. Sederstrom. Current annual pension – $81,600.
Ted E. Smith. Current annual pension – $79,173.
Richard C. Rogenski. Current annual pension – $76,476.
*Age at retirement not available.
Top pensions in city of East Moline
William T. Phares. Retired at 70. Current annual pension – $65,226.
Paul F. Schutz. Retired at 61. Current annual pension – $61,698.
George D. Hubbard. Retired at 59. Current annual pension – $57,964.
Steven C. Verdick. Retired at 55. Current annual pension – $57,169.
Lizette L. Desseyn. Retired at 59. Current annual pension – $56,708.
Top pensions in Rock Island County government
Marshall E. Douglas. Retired at 65. Current annual pension – $135,975.
Michael T. Huff. Retired at 54. Current annual pension – $97,291.
Louise A. Kerr. Retired at 57. Current annual pension – $95,296.
David Vanlandegen. Retired at 60. Current annual pension – $93,870.
James E. Bohnsack. Retired at 69. Current annual pension – $82,450.
Black Hawk College government retirees
Dorothy Beck. Retired at 64. Current annual pension – $115,145.
Linda Lindaman. Retired at 55. Current annual pension – $106,246.
Philip Johnson. Retired at 56. Current annual pension – $100,900.
Dorothy Martin. Retired at 60. Current annual pension – $99,309.
Mardon Hanson. Retired at 63. Current annual pension – $96,959.

ROCK ISLAND — Rock Island County residents pay for the pensions of 64 retired school district employees who collect more than $90,000 per year each, according to figures compiled by a Chicago-based taxpayer organization.
Taxpayers United of America compiled data on some of Rock Island County’s retiree pensions. The nonprofit, non-partisan organization out of Chicago looked at Rock Island County government, schools, Rock Island, Moline and East Moline municipal government and Black Hawk College, along with Rock Island and Moline police and firefighters.
The top five public pensions being paid in the county all go to former school superintendents: Moline’s Calvin Lee at $197,826; United Township’s Randall C. Whitlock at $154,103; Rock Island’s Richard Loy at $152,995: East Moline’s Garry Rudish at $152,770, and Rock Island’s David Markward, at $149,189.
All Illinois pensions are partially funded through tax dollars, whether it be through local property taxes or through the legislature’s general fund. Other funding sources are employee contributions and interest on investments.
In Illinois, there are five state-funded pension systems, one covering state universities, one for state employees, one for teachers, one for the General Assembly and one for judges. There also is a public pension fund (Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund) neither funded or managed by the state. In addition, there are 658 local police and fire pension systems statewide.
TUA director of operations Jared Labell said Wednesday at a news conference in Rock Island, “these government pensions explain why bureaucrats in Rock Island County keep trying to pass a new sales tax.”
He said about 930 retired Rock Island County teachers each collect a pension of at least $50,000 annually. “The median household income across the county is only $48,702 and the poverty rate is 13.3 percent,” he said.
Mr. Labell said the five state pension funds collectively paid more than 12,154 government pensioners more than $100,000.
Mr. Labell said Mr. Lee retired at 58, and his taxpayer pension estimated payout will accumulate to more than $7.2 million. Thus far, he has collected $476,968 on his pension, according to TUA. Mr. Whitlock has collected more than $1.45 million to date.
“And his personal investment in that payout? A mere 5.4 percent,” Mr. Labell said of Mr. Lee.
Mr. Labell said besides 3 percent annual cost of living increases compounded annually for many of the retirees, many take on second jobs while receiving pensions. He said some pensioners, “double, triple and quadruple” dip on their pensions.
“You see a lot of this throughout the state, specifically with law enforcement,” Mr. Labell said. “A lot of them retire in one municipality and then go on to another city. Teachers retiring from the superintendent’s position or tenured college positions are taking up positions at the community college level as well.
“Part of our goal is not to demonize these particular people, but to make it much more understandable to everyone when we’re talking about billions of dollars in debt (in Illinois). It doesn’t make sense, and then they see this.”
Mr. Labell said while the five state-funded pensions are facing an estimated $111 billion in debt, if all pensions throughout the state were combined, he said figures approach $1 trillion.
He said Rock Island County is not unique.
“Unfortunately, it’s like this throughout the state,” Mr. Labell said. “Taxpayer money is chasing the pensions while current services will fall by the wayside. Five percent of Illinois’ population falls under these pension plans.
“Ninety-five percent of the state is held hostage for this money.”
TUA is recommending placing all new hires into 401(k) style retirement savings accounts along with increasing member contributions to their retirement fund, along with increasing retirement age and retiree contributions to health care premiums.

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