Hundreds of DeKalb Government Retirees Become Multi-Millionaires at Taxpayer Expense

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DeKalb—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released the results of a new pension study of the employees of the City of DeKalb, DeKalb County, DeKalb County government schools, and Northern Illinois University.
“Illinois lawmakers continue their abuse of taxpayers by ignoring the number one budgetary problem in the state,” said Jim Tobin, president of TUA. “Illinois is in horrible financial shape, and yet taxpayers are still expected to pour their hard earned money into a failed government pension system.”
“While residents across DeKalb County face crushing tax increases, falling home values, high unemployment, and a painfully slow economic recovery, government employees continue to receive stunning pensions largely funded by taxpayers who will never collect more than $22,000 a year from Social Security.”
“Illinois’ government bureaucrats have been feeding off taxpayers in DeKalb and all across the state for the last 30 years, receiving gold-plated pension benefits in return for the votes they give politicians. Across the country, millions of bureaucrats are being paid billions, to do absolutely nothing! With their 3%, compounded cost of living adjustments (COLA), Illinois’ government retirees double their pensions after only 24 years of retirement.”
“The purpose of our study is to put some perspective around individual pensions, to put them in terms to which the average taxpayer can relate. Area taxpayers, whose average household income is $54,000, need to know how much DeKalb’s government retirees are being paid not to work and the astronomical accumulation of those payments over an average lifetime.”
“For example, Joel Milner retired from Northern Illinois University and collects an annual pension of $261,396. He has already collected $1.3 million in pension payments and his estimated lifetime pension payout is an amazing $7 million, 6.1% of which was his contribution.*”
“Robert L. Hammon retired from the Sycamore CUSD 427 and has an annual pension of $145,925, with a staggering estimated lifetime payout of $4,875,355. His contribution of the estimated lifetime payout would be only 3.1%.* ”
“Retired DeKalb County government employee, Kevin C. Hickey, has an incredible lifetime estimated pension payout of $5,015,178*, 2.6% of which he contributed, with an annual pension of $109,864.”
View pension amounts below:

“Illinois’ government pensions are in serious trouble with no end in sight. Government employees should be paid a fair wage for the work they do today so they can save for their own retirement.”
“Without sweeping and immediate reform that includes raising retirement age to 67, increasing employee contributions by 10%, increasing healthcare contributions to 50%, eliminating all COLA’s, and replacing the defined benefit system with a defined contribution system for all new hires, Illinois’ pension system will collapse. It’s mathematically impossible to tax your way out of this problem. Illinois has more than 6,700 retirees collecting more than $100,000; in 2020, that will be over 25,000 six figure pensioners.”
*Lifetime estimated pension payout includes 3% compounded COLA and assumes life expectancy of 85 (IRS Form 590).

Taxpayers Demand Spending Cuts – Oppose Raising Federal Debt Limit

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CHICAGO–House Republicans must stand fast and oppose raising the federal debt limit. President Obama needs to come down from his high horse and work to cut spending, according to the president of one of the nation’s largest taxpayer groups.
“The federal government spends 40% more than it takes in. This is shameful, and at this rate, the whole country will collapse,” said economist Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
“The Obama administration says there is no Plan B, and that all it can do is delay payments to its citizens and contractors if the debt limit isn’t raised. It’s time President Obama lived up to his own words of 2006, decrying an increase in the debt limit as ‘irresponsible’. Surely, the substantial cuts can be made in the bloated, pork-ridden budget today, as Senator Obama expected then.”
“The President’s intransigence must be challenged. House Republicans have an obligation to protect the interests of their overtaxed constituents. The federal debt limit should be reduced, rather than raised, and Pres. Obama should look for ways to reduce spending, even if he is carried kicking and screaming to that point.”

Oh, the Hypocrisy of Obama's Gun Control Advocacy!

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CHICAGO—President Obama calls for greater gun control and has done so throughout his political career, yet takes great comfort in the knowledge that his daughters are protected by ‘men with guns,’ as stated in interviews with David Letterman and others.
“The president seems to think that, ‘We the Little People,’ need more laws and restrictions and must wait for police to arrive, while he and his family enjoy the protection of their own 24 hour, personal armed guard,” stated Rae Ann McNeilly, executive director of Taxpayers United of America (TUA). “He has joked about something the rest of us take very seriously: our right to protect ourselves from criminals and psychopaths who wish to do us harm.”
“We need to be very careful about knee-jerk reactions to tragedies initiated by people determined to do harm to others — especially from politicians with an agenda. What other explanation is there for someone who has ordered drone strikes that have killed over 170 children? Where are the tears, where is the outrage, and where is the cry for reform of our lethal foreign policies that are draining our finances, killing our troops, and killing the children of other nations?” asked McNeilly.
“We, as a nation, need to be consistent in our concern for personal safety and the safety of the helpless, like children, and we need to expect that from our leadership. If the children of the president don’t have to wait for police to arrive, neither should the rest of America’s children nor any other citizen for that matter.”
“Increasing gun control and further infringing our ability to protect ourselves puts us squarely in the crosshairs of those who don’t follow the law. The courts in virtually every state have told us it is up to us to protect ourselves and that we cannot sue our local police for failing to protect us,” stated Billings, MT attorney, W. David Herbert.
“The state of Connecticut has an assault rifle ban that was in effect when a crazed gunman entered the Sandy Hook elementary school ‘gun-free zone’ to slaughter 26 innocents after gunning down his own mother. How did that gun ban protect any of the victims? How will expanding such a ban protect any citizens?”
“The president and others have been quick to politicize a tragedy that reveals the need to end the government monopoly on schools and our individual security. By limiting or eliminating our right to protect ourselves, we create yet another government monopoly – individual security.  Do we really want to entrust, as our caretakers, a government that deems collateral damage of hundreds of innocent lives, including children, acceptable? At what point will American casualties also be acceptable in the effort to protect safety of the chosen few?” added McNeilly.
“President Obama is right about one thing: he knows the value of being able to protect those you love with guns. He should not seek to deprive the rest of us of that same peace of mind by depriving us of our right to bear arms.”