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Chicago – Taxpayers United of America (TUA) announces its endorsement of the McHenry County initiative to consolidate townships from 17 to 8.
“There’s an exciting new trend in Illinois politics: people are pushing ideas to shrink the size and cost of government across the state,” stated TUA president, Jim Tobin.
One such movement is afoot in McHenry County. Longtime proponent of township consolidation, Bob Anderson, has finally gained support from Mike Shorten, Nunda Twp. Trustee and chairman of McHenry County Citizens for Township Consolidation (MCC4TC).
“It’s obvious that this would save taxpayers money, about $40 million over the next 10 years according to MCC4TC estimates.”
“This is great news for taxpayers in McHenry County and we will put our full support behind this initiative. We encourage other government bureaucracies to start thinking in terms of solutions that actually reduce tax burdens instead of automatically pushing for tax increases to fund the status quo.”
“The toughest part of consolidation is fighting the small-minded government bureaucrats who stand to lose their empires…and their pensions!”
“It’s long past time that more elected officials start thinking in terms of what is best for the taxpayers rather than what is best for themselves. Illinois is the poster-child for self-serving politicians whose policies harm the very taxpayers for whom they should be advocating.”
For this initiative to advance, the County Board must agree to put referendums on the ballot in March of 2016. Those townships that approve the referendum would proceed to consolidate while those that don’t would continue as their own government unit.
For more information on the McHenry County Citizens for Township Consolidation or to make a donation, visit www.mcc4tc.com.
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Chicago – Taxpayers United of America (TUA) and Illinois taxpayers have reason to celebrate today after the announcement Tuesday evening that Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has indefinitely suspended the Illiana Expressway, among other cuts to state expenditures.
“Taxpayers should not subsidize massive and unnecessary crony construction projects, especially when Illinois taxpayers are desperately looking for both tax relief and leadership from Springfield,” said TUA’s operations director, Jared Labell. “Killing this project shows taxpayers that Rauner’s tough budget cuts include sensible opposition to extravagant government spending on an unwanted expressway.”
The project was estimated to cost taxpayers more than $1.1 billion to construct, in addition to the very real threat of taxpayers being forced to make up the difference for insufficient revenue once completed.
Among other announced cuts estimated to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, Rauner has suspended Edge tax credits and tax breaks for the movie industry, which have always served to subsidize business at the expense of taxpayers.
Rauner also immediately halted all Illinois State Police vehicle purchases, but that decision did not go far enough, said Labell. “The Illinois State Police are the Praetorian Guard for the political class and are inessential. If Rauner really wants to shake up Illinois, he should consider drastic cuts to the superfluous Illinois State Police force and save taxpayers untold billions in expected salaries, benefits, and pension costs.”
TUA published an analysis of the Illinois State Police in April 2013, conducted by its sister research organization, Taxpayer Education Foundation (TEF) and covered by CBS 2 in Chicago. The analysis detailed the huge unfunded pension liabilities posed by the Illinois State Police and publicized the department’s top 200 pensions, all above six-figures.
“The funding suspensions announced yesterday were a good start at pushing back against the Madigan-Cullerton spending spree they call a budget,” said Labell. “But the Rauner Administration must continue to look for other systemic cuts and reforms to stop the financial fiasco Illinois is facing.”
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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:
- McHenry County College Retirees
- McHenry County Government School Retirees
- McHenry County Government School Retirees Top 100
- Crystal Lake Police Retirees
- Crystal Lake Firefighter Retirees
- McHenry Police Retirees
“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).
