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.
