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Chicago—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released the results of its study of the Cook County Pension Fund (CCPF) top government pensions.
“There are 276 Crook County pensioners getting over $100,000 in annual pension payments taking the total for the state over 10,000”, according to TUA president, Jim Tobin. “The average retirement age of these 276 retirees is only about 60 with an average estimated lifetime payout of $4.7 million.”
“As Crook County property owners receive their property tax bills next week, they need to remember two things: 80% of the property taxes they are about to pay is used to fund the salaries and benefits of the government employees, and second, the legislators we elected have failed to reform the very system that siphons away our wealth for their own benefit.”
“Illinois House Speaker, Michael Madigan (D), and Senate Majority Leader, John Cullerton (D), have failed in their roles as leaders of the Illinois General Assembly and should be fired by voters. The government pension system has failed and it didn’t happen over night or without warning. Taxpayers can’t afford to pay people for the services they need today if we are paying millions to people who no longer work! How can we afford to staff Stroger Hospital with competent doctors today if we are spending all of our resources to pay the doctors who have retired?”
“We need to pay all government employees fair wages that allow them to save for their own retirement. Cook County taxpayers are slaves to their property taxes. Cook County has some of the highest property taxes in the country and government salaries and pensions are the reason.”
“Real pension reforms were proposed in SB2026 which was introduced by Illinois State Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-25, North Aurora), but that bill did nothing to help the union bosses maintain favor with their rank and file and was quickly rejected by Senate ‘leadership’.”
“The purpose of our pension study is to put some perspective around individual pensions, to put them in terms to which the average taxpayer can relate. Illinois taxpayers, whose average household income is $54,598, and struggle with 9.7% unemployment need to know how much Illinois’ government retirees are being paid not to work and the astronomical accumulation of those payments over an average lifetime.”
View Cook County Government Pensions greater than $100k.
“Alon Winnie collects a taxpayer-funded annual pension of $330,323 and will accumulate a stunning $4,698,522 in lifetime pension payments.*”
“John Barrett has an annual pension of $321,854. Having retired at only 58 years of age, he will enjoy a staggering estimated lifetime payout of $10,037,135. His contribution of the estimated lifetime payout would be only 3.8%.* ”
“Without sweeping and immediate reform, Illinois’ government pension systems will collapse by 2015. It’s mathematically impossible to tax your way out of this problem. Illinois has more than 10,000 retirees collecting more than $100,000; in 2020, that will be over 25,000 six-figure pensioners. Real pension reform must include raising the 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.”
*Lifetime estimated pension payout includes 3% compounded COLA and assumes life expectancy of 85 (IRS Form 590).
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Chicago—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released the results of its annual study of the top government pensions in the State of Illinois.
“Illinois House Speaker, Michael Madigan (D), and Senate Majority Leader, John Cullerton (D), continue their political charade of pension reform while the number of six-figure pensioners grows 47% in one year to 9,900”, according to TUA president, Jim Tobin.
“Illinois is quickly running out of time to deal with the government-created crisis of unfunded pension liabilities. Madigan and Cullerton engage in a carefully choreographed pension reform debate that provides political cover for their allegiance to the union bosses who keep them in power.”
“The reality is that they have crafted legislation packaged as sweeping reform that will do more harm to taxpayers than no reform at all. The Madigan version of pension reform will provide a funding guarantee that places the cost of this elite group of government pensioners squarely on the backs of taxpayers and make these outrageous pensions the first priority of the budget – before any other services or obligations of the state.”
“Real pension reforms were proposed in HB3303 which was introduced by representatives Tom Morrison and Jeanne Ives, but that bill did nothing to help the union bosses maintain favor with their rank and file and was quickly rejected by Boss Madigan.”
“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. Illinois taxpayers, whose average household income is $53,234, and struggle with 9.3% unemployment need to know how much Illinois’ government retirees are being paid not to work and the astronomical accumulation of those payments over an average lifetime.”
“We actually expanded our list from the top 100 to the top 200 since there are so many six-figure pensioners now. The top 200 are all over $189,000a year.”
“Still topping our list of Illinois’s government elite in annual payouts is Tapas Das Gupta, retired from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He collected a cool $439,672 in his last annual pension payment and will accumulate a stunning $5.2 million in lifetime pension payments.*”
“Beverly Lopatka retired from DuPage Government HSD 88 at the ripe old age of 56 and has an annual pension of $399,652, with a staggering estimated lifetime payout of $11,524,643. Her contribution of the estimated lifetime payout would be only 0.8%.* ”
“The highest lifetime payout estimate goes to Larry K. Fleming, retired from government school district Lincolnshire-Prairie View 103. Having retired at the age of 55 with a cushy annual pension of $258,163, he will accumulate a breathtaking $11,868,155 in pension payments over a normal lifetime.”
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“Illinois’ financial condition is in the tank. We have the worst credit rating, the highest unfunded pension liabilities and one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. We had a net loss of 74,000 productive, taxpaying residents last year. What does it take to get serious about pension reform that will solve problems, not create new ones?”
“Without sweeping and immediate reform, Illinois’ government pension system will collapse by 2015. It’s mathematically impossible to tax your way out of this problem. Illinois has more than 9,900 retirees collecting more than $100,000; in 2020, that will be over 25,000 six-figure pensioners. Real pension reform must include raising the 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.”
*Lifetime estimated pension payout includes 3% compounded COLA and assumes life expectancy of 85 (IRS Form 590).
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CHICAGO—Ill. Gov. Patrick Quinn’s proposal to add roughly 200 additional state police will cost Illinois taxpayers $1.5 billion, conservatively, over the troopers’ expected lifetime—a cost the bankrupt state and battered taxpayers can’t afford, according to Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America.
“Gov. Patrick Quinn (D) is ‘concerned’ that too many state police officers are retiring. And why wouldn’t they retire? They can retire in their 50s and get millions of dollars in retirement benefits over a normal lifetime. Getting paid not to work is a terrific deal.”
“Using a conservative estimate of $80,000 annual base pay over 25 years, these 200 additional state troopers will cost taxpayers at least $400 million in wages alone. After working for 25 years and retiring, if they live to age 85, they will cost taxpayers an additional $1.1 billion in pension benefits. Contrary to popular belief, actual employee contributions to the pension fund average only about 3% of their total, lifetime pension payouts. The total tab to taxpayers will be about $1.5 billion.”
“They will be paid more not to work, for more years, than they will be paid to actually work.”
“Besides handing out speeding tickets and doing politicians’ dirty-work, the state police contribute little to the state’s quality of life. Only the state crime lab is essential. The state troopers are superfluous and expensive.”
“We sent a letter to Gov. Quinn asking for government pension reforms that include raising the retirement age to 67, increasing employee pension contributions 10%, requiring all members to contribute 50% to their healthcare premiums, ending cost-of-living increases, and immediately replacing defined pension benefits with contributions made by all new hires.”
“We need a hiring freeze of all state government agencies whose employees participate in the crippled Illinois government pension system until comprehensive government pension reform is implemented.”
