Findings from TUA’s pension project on LaSalle County, Illinois, are featured in this story from the News Tribune.
OTTAWA — About 80 percent of every tax dollar you pay goes directly into funding pension plans and salaries for local teachers, government officials and public sector union employees, said Jim Tobin, founder of Taxpayers United of America.
“When people understand that government bureaucrats are raising property taxes to mostly fund their own pension plans people will make the connection and start demanding reform,” Tobin said.
Tobin and TUA of Illinois executive director Rae Ann McNeilly held a press conference Wednesday in Ottawa to release a list of salaries and pensions paid to local teachers and government employees to illustrate why the state’s pension system will collapse by 2015, according to TUA.
“Real reform starts with this community looking at these lists and asking if this is what we want for La Salle County — a system that allows them to grow their pensions at the expense of the taxpayer,” Tobin said. “These battles must be fought at the local level.”
Tobin calls for the state’s retirement age to be raised to age 67, increase employee pension contributions by 10 percent, increase health care contributions to 50 percent, eliminate all cost of living adjustments (COLAs), and replace the defined benefit system with a defined contribution system for all new hires.
Tobin said voters and rank-and-file union members need to ask union leaders to support pension reform and all taxpayers to become active participants at the local level.
For example, McNeilly said she and Tobin were listening to a rebroadcast of the Peru Mayoral Forum on 1220 AM WLPO while driving into Ottawa.
“You heard all the candidates promising to buy new things for their constituents,” McNeilly said. “Where’s the guy that says, ‘I’m going to give back the money you earned so you can make your own choices?’ That’s the candidate we should be voting for.”
Based on 2010 U.S. Census figures, the average La Salle County resident earns $37,000 annually, which is typically lower than what many people in the public sector earn not including pensions and excellent health benefits, Tobin said.
But the recent increases in sand mine developments in the county could become a major economic boom for the county’s taxpayers so long as government doesn’t siphon money off of industrial development to fund public employee pension and salary increases, Tobin said.
“At 10.8 percent, La Salle County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state,” he said. “Decreased home values, a 67 percent increase in state income tax and a 44 percent increase in Social Security tax have stripped wealth from La Salle County area taxpayers,” he said.
“But the outlook for La Salle County could be positive, if government bureaucrats can keep their greed in check and allow taxpayers to enjoy the growth that can result from a booming mining industry in the area. Rather than look for ways to pillage this growth industry, county officials should be encouraging this growth by limiting regulations and taxation.”
TUA’s work in helping Itasca taxpayers oppose a property-tax-increase referendum was featured in the Daily Herald.
A government watchdog group is leading opposition to a property tax increase Itasca Elementary District 10 is seeking to raise more money for operations.
Now both sides are debating how much the proposed tax hike would cost property owners if voters approve the referendum question on April 9.
“They (District 10 officials) are lying to the voters in order to pass a tax increase that would line their own pockets,” said Jim Tobin, president of the Chicago-based Taxpayers United of America.
District 10 is asking voters to give it an additional $1 million annually to fill a budget shortfall that officials say resulted from several factors, including decreased state and federal funding.
Taxpayers United of America, however, is taking issue with the district’s claim on its website that the owner of a $300,000 home would pay about $240 more a year in property taxes if the ballot question is approved.
Language on the ballot does state the 2013 levy for District 10 is estimated to cost the owner of a $300,000 home about $846 in extra taxes if the tax hike is approved.
But district officials insist most of the projected increase — about $606 — is caused by a big drop in the taxable value of land in the district.
Since 1991, a state-imposed cap has limited the amount by which many taxing bodies can increase their levies to the rate of inflation or 5 percent, whichever is lower. But even with the cap, tax rates still can increase if the overall taxable value of property drops.
For District 10, the tax rate was roughly $1.90 per $100 of assessed value in 2011, when the overall value of land in the district was about $516 million.
This year, the value of land districtwide is projected to be a little more than $418 million, officials said. So even if the ballot question is defeated, the district’s tax rate is expected to rise to about $2.51 per $100 of assessed value.
“Our tax rate is climbing fairly steeply,” said Kory Atkinson, the school district’s director of operations. “That doesn’t mean the district is getting more money. It just means property values in our district are dropping pretty dramatically.”
If the April 9 ballot question is approved, the district’s rate is projected to climb to about $2.75 per $100 of assessed value.
Superintendent Marcia Tornatore says District 10 needs the $1 million in additional revenue because it has had to dip into its reserve cash to pay for expenses.
“It (the tax increase) will generate the money that we’re looking for to maintain our programs,” she said.
And if the tax increase generates more than $1 million in revenue, Tornatore said, the school board has promised to return any extra cash to taxpayers.
Nevertheless, Taxpayers United of America on Monday announced it is working with activists in District 10 to defeat the proposal.
Rae Ann McNeilly, the group’s executive director, called the district’s explanation about how much the proposed increase would cost taxpayers “an attempt to mislead the voters.”
“They are trying to find a way to fool the public into approving a really expensive property tax increase,” she said.
McNeilly said her group opposes the tax increase, in part, because most of the money would pay for salaries and benefits for District 10 staff.
“They are asking taxpayers — who have already taken a hit with declining house values — to take another hit,” McNeilly said. “I think not.”
The Times highlighted TUA’s upcoming press conference in Ottawa, Illinois.
Tax activist Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America, will discuss local pension and salary payouts during a public news conference at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Reddick Mansion, 100 W. Lafayette St., Ottawa, in the first-floor meeting room.
Tobin, an independent investigator, is expected to reveal details from a recently compiled pension and salary study exposing the top pensions and salaries for La Salle County government employees, Ottawa municipal government employees, Illinois Valley Community College officials and instructors and area school administrators and teachers.
In a news release, Tobin says, “These lavish pensions (and salaries) are consistent with findings across Illinois and are destined to collapse state and local budgets while state and local bureaucrats continue to tax their way out of trouble.”
Tobin has conducted similar public meetings about these issues in communities across the state.
Founded in 1976, TUA is one of the largest taxpayer watchdog organizations in America. To learn more, visit the website taxpayersunited.org.
