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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Quad-City Times | AFSCME, taxpayer group disagree on Illinois pensions

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

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

Visit website to see pension information

According to Jared Labell, of the Taxpayers United of America organization, the group’s website lists individual pensions of Rock Island and Moline municipal, Rock Island County, Rock Island County government teachers and Black Hawk College retirees. Visit www.taxpayersunited.org to see the list.

Rock Island County taxpayers bear the burden of millions of dollars in pensions that retired educators and municipal workers will collect for years to come, according to a Chicago-based taxpayers group.

Taxpayers United of America made a presentation on that contention — one of several presentations throughout the state — Wednesday at the Rock Island Holiday Inn.

But a representative from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, counters that most Illinois retirees receive only modest pensions.

Jared Labell, operations director of the taxpayers group, said about 930 Rock Island County teachers collect at least $50,000 annually. Statewide, more than 12,000 Illinois pensioners collect six-figure pensions, and more than 85,893 retirees collect more than $50,000, he said.

“On average, these government pensioners contribute only about 5.5 percent to their own retirement payout,” he said. “In the private sector, employees pay 15 percent of every dollar they earn into Social Security for an average pension of only $15,000.”

But Anders Lindall, public affairs director at AFSCME Council 31, Chicago, calls the taxpayers group and similar organizations “pension-cutting lobby groups.”

He said the average pension in the state is $32,000 a year.

“We’re talking about the life savings of teachers, police, firefighters, nurses and other public-service workers who live in our communities throughout Illinois,” Lindall said.

Eight in 10 of those workers are ineligible for Social Security, Lindall said. “So, their modest pension is their primary, if not their only, source of income in retirement.”

When they are working, teachers, police officers and other public employees pay significantly into their own pensions, Lindall said. He said workers typically pay 8-12 percent of every paycheck toward their pension.

 “The pension debt, which is real, is caused not by employees doing anything wrong; they always pay their share. It’s caused not by benefits being too expensive, and it’s certainly not caused by the few radical exceptions — outliers — that these pension-slashing lobby groups like to trot out,” Lindall said.

The taxpayer group’s Labell gave examples of local retirees with pensions near or surpassing $100,000, including Calvin D. Lee, former superintendent of Moline-Coal Valley School District, who according to the taxpayer group’s research, receives $197,826 in annual pension payments.

Another retiree, former Rock Island County Sheriff Michael T. Huff, receives $97,291 in annual pension payments, Labell said.

AFSCME’s Lindall said the pension debt was caused by legislators who didn’t set aside enough money to pay benefits. “It’s regrettable that they (the taxpayer group) attract any attention at all. They’re not adding anything productive to the conversation.”

He said it’s important to understand that the problem is the decades-long failure of politicians at the state level to set aside adequate resources.

“The answer is ending that practice and for the state to pay what it owes,” Lindall said. “Many people have talked about ways to make those costs more manageable — for example, re-amortizing the pension debt — a mathematician’s word for refinancing your mortgage.”

Creative and constitutional solutions like that that should be considered, Lindall said.

The taxpayer group’s Labell suggests putting new state employees on a 401(k) retirement plan. He emphasized that he is not demonizing people who receive pensions. Pointing out what someone is making through a pension “puts a more ‘real’ spin on it,” he said.

The average person’s Social Security pension is $15,000, he said. Compared to that, the pensions he discussed “are just astronomical,” he said.

“We are technically these peoples’ employers,” Labell said. “I think we have a right to know this information.”

Taxpayers United of America calls itself a “pro-taxpayer, nonprofit, non-partisan organization,” Labell said, adding that the organization is “not indebted” to any political party.

AFSCME represents mostly public employees at all levels of government and is the largest public employee union in the country with 1.4 million members.

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WQAD8 | Taxpayers United: Illinois taxpayers subsidizing six-figure pensions

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


A Chicago-based group is calling for pension reform, and is highlighting what it calls some of the top area pensions to make its case.
Taxpayers United of America’s operations director, Jared Labell, was quoted by WQAD8 in an article about Taxpayers United of America’s recent pension release for both Rock Island County and Moline.

According to data provided  by Taxpayers United of America, ex-Moline school superintendent Cal Lee is collecting a more than $197,000 a year pension.
But, TUA says he has only contributed about $390,000 to his pension fund, leaving taxpayers to supplement his estimated lifetime payout of 7.2 million dollars.
“So in two years, he’s already recouped the money he’s put into his pension fund. If you look at his lifetime pension, estimated at over 7-million dollars, I don’t think these pension funds were initially started to create millionaires out of government employees,” said Jared Labell, Director of Operations for Taxpayers United.
The group is calling for pension reform, and wants lawmakers to pass some kind of legislation requiring 401k type funds for future city and state workers and educators.
Labell says the current system is not sustainable, and unrealistic.
“We’re seeing it all across Illinois. The conservative number is 111 billion dollar in unfunded liabilities to taxpayers.  Different employees aren’t paying enough into the system to make it sustainable and we’re seeing as the market ebbs and flows, more and more responsibility falling on the taxpayer to actually fund these pensions,” he said.
TUA says there are more than 12,000 state pensioners collecting more than $100,000 per year and more than 85 thousand state pensioners collecting more than $50,000 per year.

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