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CHICAGO—Some Illinois Tollway employees retire very early, and often become pension millionaires over their long retirement, according to the President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
“Our organization has obtained the names, annual pension figures and amounts-paid-to-date for former employees of the Illinois Tollway system,” said Jim Tobin, TUA President, “and the list of the Top 100 total pension payouts is very revealing. Twenty of the top 24 recipients have already received over $1 million in amounts-paid-to-date, and of these 24 former tollway employees, 22 are retired Illinois Tollway Police Officers.”
View the top 100 pensions (paid-to-date) in the Illinois Tollway System here.
“Number one on the list is former tollway policeman Edward Quedens, who retired at age 54 and already has received $1,299,996 in pension payments. For these benefits, Quedens total employee-contribution was only $65,384.”
“Number two, Victor Centanni, also a former tollway policeman, retired at age 56 and has received a total-to-date payout of $1,212,777. His total employee-contribution was only $49,067.”
“I wish my investments gave me that kind of return,” added Tobin.
“The top four on our list were former tollway policemen. Number five is Ralph Wehner, whose employment was listed as ‘General Office.’ He retired at age 64 with a salary of $118,368. Not bad for general office work. His total pension-to-date is $1,207,833, not a bad return on his total employee contribution into the system of $148,838.”
“These high-flying former tollway employees are getting rich by being paid for doing absolutely nothing,” said Tobin. “It must be nice to retire at age 54 and look forward to getting more than a million dollars over a normal lifetime for not working.”
“Although tollway salaries are funded by the system’s exorbitant tolls, Illinois taxpayers are on the hook for their lavish, gold-plated pensions. All of the recent, back-breaking 67% increase in the state personal income tax is going to fund the over-the-top pensions of government employees. This pension system is unsustainable.”
“Ending pensions for all new government and tollway hires will eventually eliminate unfunded government pensions,” said Tobin. “New hires should plan for their own retirements by being placed in Social Security and 401(k) plans.”
“Furthermore, if each government employee were required to contribute an additional 10% toward his or her pension, taxpayers would save $150 billion over the next 35 years.”
“Finally, requiring government employees and retirees to pay for one-half of their health care premiums would save an additional $230 billion over current projections.”
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DENVER—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) released estimated pension payouts for Denver municipal, Denver Schools, and Colorado State government employees. Colorado refuses to release actual government pensions, ignoring citizens’ right to review all payments funded by taxes. TUA calculated estimated pensions for government employees based on actual salaries of current government employees to shed light on the largess of the tightly guarded secret payouts.
“Colorado is the least transparent of the 17 states studied thus far, in our nationwide pension tour, attempting to hide even government employee salaries,” stated Rae Ann McNeilly, Director of Outreach for TUA.
“The cost of shielding the system from review, and ultimately, reform, is devastatingly high as cities around the country are buckling under the weight of their unfunded liabilities. Government pension funds are the number one budgetary problem in the country and Colorado is no different. Choices will have to be made between services we need today, and stunning pension payments.”
“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. Taxpayers need to know how much Colorado’s government retirees are being paid not to work and the astronomical accumulation of those payments over an average lifetime. 400 of the top government employees’ pension estimates being released today will each collect over $2.5 million to do absolutely nothing!”
“While residents across Colorado face crushing taxes, falling home values, high unemployment, and a very anemic economic recovery, government employees continue to receive stunning pensions funded by taxpayers who will never collect more than about $22,000 a year from Social Security.”
McNeilly continued, “For example, Lee Shockley, Denver Assoc. Dir. Tech Physician Svcs, stands to collect an estimated annual pension of $216,537* based on his actual annual gross of $288,716. His estimated lifetime pension payout could be a staggering $6,929,176.*”
“Thomas Boasberg, Denver government school employee, has an estimated annual pension of $148,838*, based on his actual annual gross of $198,451, with an estimated lifetime payout of $4,762,822.* ”
“Colorado State employee, Robert K. Hammond, has a lifetime estimated payout of $5,400,000* with an estimated annual pension of $168,750*, based on his actual annual gross of $225,000.”
View pension amounts below:
- Colorado State Employees Top 100
- Denver Gov School Employees Top 100
- Denver Municipal/County Top 100
- Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning Top 20
“Colorado’s government pension systems are crushing middle class Coloradans. Replacing defined benefit pensions for all new government hires with social security and 401(k)s would eventually eliminate unfunded government pensions. Current government employees must consider a voluntary pension contribution of up to 10% more to preserve their pension benefits. Additionally, all members should pay for 50% of their healthcare premiums. We need a stable system that is fair to both taxpayers and beneficiaries or pension checks will stop coming,” added McNeilly.
*TUA submits FOIA requests for current employee salaries and estimates pensions based on the current pension laws, uses 32 years of retirement at 75% of the current salary (based on IRS form 590 LE of 85 and CO pension laws).
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Last week, Taxpayers United of America (TUA) released the top pension amounts for Arizona government employees. TUA President Jim Tobin held press conferences in Phoenix and Tucson.
TUA received the following great press coverage:
- Inside Tucson Business | Group says city employees due millions in pension payouts
- KGUN-TV 9 | Big government pensions brought into question [VIDEO]
- NewsTalk 550 KFYI | Watchdog Group: More Money Going Toward Government Pensions
Of particular note was the story from KGUN-TV 9. To see video of the story, click on the image below:
Additional press coverage from the Goldwater Institute and AZ-TV7 is expected in the future.
Arizona is the 16th state on TUA’s 50-state-tour focused on the number one budgetary problem in the US: government pension funding. TUA will be revealing more states’ pension amounts across the nation, including those of Colorado later this month.
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