Peoria’s Perplexing Pension Problem: Taxpayers Can’t Afford What Pols Promised

Jim Tobin Peoria
Jim Tobin Peoria

View as PDF

Peoria, IL – Taxpayers in Peoria City and County are crushed by taxes new and old. The county’s new public safety pension tax only increases the tax burden without solving the mounting pension cost to taxpayers.

“Peoria government bureaucrats do nothing to solve the pension problems facing its taxpayers,” said Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA). “Like all the other taxing bodies in Illinois, all 7,000 of them, Peoria continues to treat its taxpayers like an ATM. Rather than do away with some government jobs, eliminate redundancies, cut expenses, and lobby the state legislature to put a pension reform amendment on the ballot, they just demand taxpayers fork over more cash.”

“While the local pensions of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) are paid by property taxes, the remaining five state pension funds are paid primarily with the Illinois state income-tax.”

“In order to fund pensions of the 148,654 pensioners who will collect more than a million dollars in pension payments, Democrat Gov. Jay Robert ‘J. B.’ Pritzker is seeking to adopt a constitutional amendment that will allow a graduated income tax that ushers in massive state income-tax increases. And that 148,654 doesn’t even include pensions from the hundreds of police and fire funds or the Chicago pension funds.”

“Pritzker’s income theft amendment will be on the November 3, 2020 ballot. If passed, this taxpayer theft will hit small businesses and the middle-class the hardest. Between the mass exodus of Illinois residents to more tax friendly states and the huge loss of jobs and income from the Covid-19 pandemic, Illinois’ middle-class will virtually disappear.”

“As many of us have been struggling without a paycheck, or watching businesses disintegrate and in some cases, destroyed by rioters and looters, here’s what a few of the political elite in Peoria County collected without a concern of what is to come:

Kevin W. Lyons retired from Peoria County government at the age of 55. His current annual pension is $151,401, an increase of about $3,600 over last year. With his 3% COLA, he will receive about $4,593,916 over a normal lifetime. His personal investment in that stunning payout is only about 4.4%. He is also eligible for a social security pension.

Roger M. Bergia, Peoria Heights CUSD 325 retiree, has a current annual pension of $249,372. His raise this year was about $7,200 and he will collect about $2,484,295 in estimated lifetime pension payments.

Thomas Thomas retired from Illinois Central College and currently collects $231,819 a year from the State University Retirement System (SURS). That’s an increase of about $6,700 over last year. His estimated lifetime payout is $4,839,817. He had to invest only $148,054 of his own money for that payout.”

“Illinois government employees only work 20.1 years on average in order to collect these unrealistic pensions. And for every dollar they deposit in their own pension fund, taxpayers are forced to fork over $4.74. Add to that a 3% COLA, compounded for all but IMRF, and it doesn’t take a genius to understand why Illinois’ government pensions are insolvent.”

“Rather than put an income theft amendment on the ballot, Pritzker should have pushed for a pension reform amendment because these outrageous pensions are protected by the state constitution,” said Tobin.

Top 200 Peoria Pensions IMRF

Top 200 Peoria Pensions TRS

Top 200 Peoria Pensions SURS

Rockford Pensioners Collect Millions Amid Unemployment Crisis

Jim Tobin
Jim Tobin

View as PDF

TUA in the News!
Story covered by CBS Channel 23 News Rockford.

Rockford- “Rockford area property taxes have been some of the highest in the country in recent years. Property taxes pay for the local government pensions and state law requires those pensions to be paid before any other commitments. No matter how many private sector workers lose their jobs, government retirees continue to collect their gold-plated pensions,” said Jim Tobin, economist and president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).

“While the local pensions of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) are paid by property taxes, the remaining five state pension funds are subsidized with the Illinois state income-tax.” 

“In order to fund pensions of the 148,654 pensioners who will collect more than a million dollars in pension payments, Democrat Gov. Jay Robert ‘J. B.’Pritzkeris seeking to hoodwink voters into passing constitutional amendment that that ushers in massive state income-tax increases.”

“Pritzker’s incometheft amendment will be on the November 3, 2020 ballot. If passed, this taxpayer theftwill hit the middle-class the hardest. Between the mass exodus of Illinois residents to more tax-friendly states and the huge loss of jobs and income from Pritzker’s Soviet style lockdown, Illinois’ middle-class will virtually disappear.”

“As many of us have been struggling without a paycheck, or watching businesses disintegrate, here’s what a few of the political elite in Winnebago County collected without a concern of what is to come:

Alan S. Brown retired from Rockford SD205 at the age of 55. His current annual pension is $188,828, an increase of about $5,000 over last year. With his 3% compounded COLA, he will realize about $5,353,244 over a normal lifetime. His personal investment in that stunning payout is only about 3%.

Paul A. Logli retired from Winnebago County government with a current annual pension of $172,197. His raise this year was about $3,700 and he will collect about $4,966,168 in estimated lifetime pension payments. Paul is also eligible for a social security pension. 

Karl Jacobs, Rock Valley College retiree, collects $184,970 a year from the State University Retirement System (SURS). His estimated lifetime payout is $2,968,762. He only had to invest $159,281 of his own money in that payout.”

“Illinois government employees only work 20.1 years on average in order to collect these unrealistic pensions. And for every dollar they deposit in their own pension fund, taxpayers are forced to fork over $4.74. Add to that a 3% COLA, compounded for all but IMRF, and it doesn’t take a genius to understand why Illinois’ government pensions are insolvent.”

“Rather than put an income theft amendment on the November 3rd ballot, Pritzker should have pushed for a pension reform amendment because these outrageous pensions are protected by the state constitution. 

View Top Rockford IMRF Pensions
View Top Rockford SURS Pensions
View Top Rockford TRS Pensions

PRITZKER SOVIET-STYLE LOCKDOWN PUT ILLINOISANS AT GREAT MEDICAL RISK

View as PDF

Yesterday, Illinois Governor Jay Robert “J. B.” Pritzker announced from the economic rubble of his once prosperous state, that he would move forward with “phase 4” of his soviet style lockdown.

“Not only is Pritzker delaying the economic recovery of the state, but his actions have put Illinoisans at risk and may be causing many deaths of his constituents,” said James L. Tobin, economist and president of Taxpayers United of Illinois (TUA).

According to Scott W. Atlas M.D., a physician and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, lockdown policies have created the greatest global economic disruption in history, with trillions of dollars of lost economic output. “The cure is bigger than the disease at this point,” said Atlas. “150,000 new patients with cancer are diagnosed every single month in the United States. Most of them are not getting diagnosed.”

Stanford epidemiologist John P.A. Ioannidis states, “We lack reliable evidence on how many people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 or who continue to become infected. Better information is needed to guide decisions and actions of monumental significance and to monitor their impact.”

“Three months after the outbreak emerged, most countries, including the U.S., lack the ability to test a large number of people and no countries have reliable data on the prevalence of the virus in a representative random sample of the general population,” wrote Ioannidis.

“In the absence of data, prepare-for-the-worst reasoning leads to extreme measures of social distancing and lockdowns. Unfortunately, we do not know if these measures work. School closures, for example, may reduce transmission rates. But they may also backfire if children socialize anyhow, if school closure leads children to spend more time with susceptible elderly family members, if children at home disrupt their parents’ ability to work, and more. School closures may also diminish the chances of developing herd immunity in an age group that is spared serious disease.”

Ioannidis warns, “One of the bottom lines is that we don’t know how long social distancing measures and lockdowns can be maintained without major consequences to the economy, society, and mental health. Unpredictable evolutions may ensue, including financial crisis, unrest, civil strife, war, and a meltdown of the social fabric. At a minimum, we need unbiased prevalence and incidence data for the evolving infectious load to guide decision-making.”

John P.A. Ioannidis is professor of medicine and professor of epidemiology and population health, as well as professor by courtesy of biomedical data science at Stanford University School of Medicine, professor by courtesy of statistics at Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences, and co-director of the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS) at Stanford University.