Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United for America, appeared on Bulldog Live! to discuss TUA’s pension study on New Hampshire. To listen, click on the audio player below.
[audio:https://www.taxpayersunitedofamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/bulldogradio.mp3|titles=Jim Tobin on WPTL 107.7 The Pulse]
TUA’s pension study on New Hampshire is featured in this article from the Union Leader.
MANCHESTER — New Hampshire needs to reform its government-employee pension system, according to a Chicago-based taxpayer group that on Tuesday publicized the top pension payments for retired city, county and state officials.
The Chicago-based Taxpayers United of America said the “stunning pensions” are funded by taxpayers who struggle with crushing tax increases, falling home prices, rising unemployment and a painfully slow economic recovery.
But an official with the union that represents Manchester police officers quickly criticized the information, particularly its focus on highest-paid pensions rather than average or even lowest-paid.
“When you start throwing extremes around and using hyperbole, you’re not looking for a discussion, you’re pushing an agenda,” said David Connare, president of the Manchester Police Patrolman’s Association.
At a news conference, Taxpayers United released the top 25 pensions for police and fire, teachers, government officials, judges and county workers.
The New Hampshire Union Leader has reported most of the pensions in the past. In fact, Taxpayers United accessed the information after the Union Leader Corp. won a two-year legal battle that forced the New Hampshire Retirement System to divulge information on individual pensions.
Click here to view the original release from Taxpayers United of America, including the New Hampshire pension lists.
High-ranking judges, police and fire officials receive annual pensions that top $100,000.
“Across the country, millions of bureaucrats are being paid billions, to do absolutely nothing,” said Jim Tobin, president and founder of Taxpayers United.
Taxpayers United reported that retired Manchester police Capt. Richard Valenti receives an annual pension of $133,634.
When pressed, Tobin said the average annual pension for a police officer in the New Hampshire Retirement System is $33,876 — about $100,000 less than Valenti’s.
Still, he said, that’s too much.
“These are outrageous amounts of money being stolen from the taxpayers, legally, by people who are sworn to serve and protect us,” Tobin said about the average pension.
Connare said that if Taxpayers United disclosed the bottom-25 earners, their pensions would amount to poverty-level income.
Last year, reforms of the pension system took place that require new and newly hired public employees to work more years to become eligible for pensions, said Marty Karlon, spokesman for the Retirement System. Formulas were altered to reduce the ability to alter income in order to boost pension calculations.
And public employees must contribute more toward their pension. Connare points out that police now pay 11.5 percent of their wages toward retirement.
The Legislature is studying further changes, including a system similar to a 401(k). Tobin said that is the best long-run option for public employee retirements.
Both Karlon and Connare took issue with the Taxpayers Union use of assumptions to calculate estimated lifetime pension payout. The organization calculated the lifetime pension by assuming that every worker retired at age 45 or 60 and lived to 85.
Under such calculations, Manchester police Capt. Valenti would earn $5.21 million over 39 years.
But Connare said Valenti was in his mid-50s when he retired. And people receive large pensions because their base salary grew as they stayed on the job well past their minimum retirement age, gaining raises and promotions, he said.
Tobin also took issue with non-uniformed public workers, most who can retire at 60 and earn a pension of $12,474 for the average worker; $21,321 for teachers. They would also receive Social Security benefits, which are a maximum of $22,000 a year.
“These are pampered government employees who get outrageous pension benefits and salaries,” he said. “My personal case is, I’m going to have to work until I drop to pay my bills, plus their lavish salaries.”
Tobin said he founded Taxpayers United in 1976. It has an annual budget of about $300,000, a mailing list of about 30,000 members and a staff of eight.
New Hampshire is the 19th state to have its highest-paid retirees disclosed by Taxpayers Union. In about half the states, Taxpayers United has to estimate pensions because the retirement system will not release them.
TUA’s press releases on the Chicago Teachers’ Union and CPS administrators was featured in the following article at Fox News Illinois.
SPRINGFIELD – As striking Chicago public school teachers took to the streets to picket Monday, one taxpayer-minded organization criticized the current salaries of the district’s school administrators and teachers, saying they add up to too much for too little.
Jim Tobin, president of Chicago-based Taxpayers United of America, an organization that advocates for tax relief and responsible use of tax money, said the average teacher pay in the Chicago public schools is $76,000, not including employee benefits or pensions.
“That’s $76,000 for nine months’ employment in a system that isn’t even mediocre. This is one of the lowest-performing school districts in the country,” Tobin said. “And they want a 29-percent pay raise. It just boggles the mind. These salaries are out of this world.”
The Chicago Teachers Union announced at 10 p.m. Sunday that negotiations between teachers and the city of Chicago, which operates Chicago Public Schools, had broken down and that teachers would be on strike beginning Monday morning.
It’s the first time Chicago teachers have gone on strike since 1987. Chicago has the nation’s third-largest public school system, with more than 30,000 educators and 400,000 students at 675 schools.
Midnight Sunday was the deadline for negotiations. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said only two issues – a teacher-evaluation system that links teacher performance to students’ standardized test scores and principals’ ability to let go of teachers who don’t make the grade – remained unresolved.
The Chicago school district is grappling with a $700 million budget shortfall.
“The issues that remain are minor,” Emanuel said Sunday night. “This is totally unnecessary. It’s avoidable, and our kids don’t deserve this. … This is a strike of choice.”
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said the union and school district officials found common ground on compensation but that cuts to health benefits remained a sticking point.
“This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could have avoided,” she said. “We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve.”
David Vitale, president of the Chicago Board of Education, said officials offered teachers a 16 percent pay raise over four years, which was double the amount of a previous offer. He described the negotiations as “extraordinarily difficult.”
According to a Chicago Teachers Union news release, the two sides also negotiated a variety of other matters during the talks. Among them:
Smaller class sizes.
More libraries.
Air-conditioned classrooms.
More social workers and counselors to help students.
Restoring art, music, language, technology and physical education classes.
Textbooks for students on the first day of school instead of waiting several weeks for the materials.
Training for teachers.
Concessions for nursing mothers.
Negotiations resumed Monday.
Tobin described as “ridiculous” the raises Chicago teachers are seeking, adding that school administrators are paid even more for doing less. According to 2011 salary figures provided by Taxpayers United, the top administrator in Chicago Public Schools, Chief Executive Officer Jean- Claude Brizard, earned $250,000. Dozens of principals in the list of top-100 salaries in Chicago Public Schools earned $140,000 to $150,000.
“The purpose of the government schools is not to provide education for children but to provide employees with huge salaries and benefits,” Tobin said. “If (teachers) really cared about the children they would be in school and trying to get these kids a better education. But they’re basically concerned about lining their own pockets.”
Teachers at Chicago’s charter schools are not part of the Chicago Teachers Union, and students and educators at those schools were in class Monday.
Charter schools are public schools that are not restricted by the same guidelines as traditional public schools, but they are accountable for achieving certain goals and results, as set forth in their charters. Parents can choose to send their children to charter schools as an option to other, low-performing schools, and they can do so for no extra cost. About 52,000 students attend charter schools in Chicago.
John Tillman, chief executive officer of the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think-tank, on Monday urged those at the bargaining table in Chicago to focus on reforms that empower parents rather than perpetuating “a broken system.” He suggested expanding the number of charter schools in Chicago, establishing opportunity scholarships and continuing to offer merit pay for good teachers who deserve to be recognized and rewarded.
Once those things occur, Tillman said, “…we can begin to chip away at the monopoly that the Chicago Teachers Union has over the city’s educational system.”
“We must empower parents to choose what is best for their children, instead of letting Karen Lewis decide when kids can and cannot learn,” he said.
