Jim is president of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (www.ntui.org/) and has been fighting taxes for 35 years. Christina, his daughter, started working with him at age 11 and now is chairman of the board of The Free & Equal Elections Foundation (www.freeandequal.org/). If she runs for Governor, I'll vote for her! They are shown in the top photo.
Jim presented solid numbers on the pensions that are killing Illinois taxpayers. How about $33,535 per month ($402,418/year) to a retired doctor? How about $176,043/year to the highest-paid judge retiree? How about $105,113/year to MCC retiree Carol Chandler?
And a little closer to home? Say, in McHenry School District 156. How about $172,531/year to retiree Teresa Lane?
And let's not forget Woodstock District 200. Ray Reynolds probably won't have to worry about paying his property taxes out of his retirement income of $120,538/year. Nor will Cheryl Metcalf, out of her $106,949/year. If they looked at the list of Top 100 Teacher Retirement System pensions, as of 7/1/2010, they would probably wish they had worked in different districts.
And not to forget the Top 25 pensions in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF), Kirk Reimer, recently retired Crystal Lake Park District executive director, leads the list with $103,300/year retirement pay. Two retired McHenry County Sheriff's Department employees are #3 and #4: Glenn C. Olson, with $88,221/year and David A. Shepherd, with $87,584/year. And Gene Lowery is #6 with $82,668/year. And Lowery is now Deputy Chief at the Crystal Lake Police Department, earning (how much? $100K/year?).
Anyone else think it's time to peddle the ol' homestead and clear out of Illinois, while the lights are still on?
Future articles here will provide more numbers. If you just can't wait, visit www.ntui.org/ right now.
For more information about McHenry Citizens TaxWatch, go to www.mchenrycitizenstaxwatch.org/
For more information about McHenry Citizens TaxWatch, go to www.mchenrycitizenstaxwatch.org/
6 comments:
For police and fire officers and deputies, they paid between 7.5% and 9% of gross pay for their entire careers. That money was professionally managed and together with the matching funds from the municipality or county, grew to an enormous amount. Simple investing principles much like a 401K grows. The interest off the earnings now is enough to pay the annuity. The taxpayers are not paying that monthly. Just go to IMRF.org website and it dispels many rumors.
Jim Tobin spews false propaganda. He pretends that the retirements are coming out of taxes each month and people listen to his BS. Yes the STATE retirement funds are in trouble because the STATE stole the money and did not allow it to grow. IMRF for instance is what the majority of local workers retire on, and it is 90% funded by the investments and the contributions of the employees.
Unlike the Teachers TRS system, IMRF IS NOT a State retirement fund and luckily the State legislators couldn’t steal or as they euphemistically like to say BORROWED the money. Had the people you mention contributed the same amount into a 401K with a company match for the 30 plus years they contributed to the retirement program, they would have seven figure retirement accounts. Change the scenario and they would be considered wise investors. Now they seem to be relegated to scorn.
Correct Snidely. I heard someone say that years ago it was the workers (union) vs. management and the unions flourished but the latest brouhaha pits the 'workers' vs. the public. Notice the absence of politicians setting the record straight?
I believe it was in The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt that the author wrote about a deal that T.R. and John L. Lewis made, assuring better wages for union miners. It wasn't long after that that the union mines closed and the workers, who briefly had higher wages, were out of work.
This is not a union issue Gus. I also believe it was John Lewis and Woodrow Wilson, not Teddy. It also was not so much a deal but Lewis, as the President of the United Mine Workers, decided not to fight Wilson when Wilson imposed a injuction prohibiting the coal strikes. Lewis DID however launch FDR to the Presidency by throwing the Union vote behind Roosevelt.
I do agree that the coal miner issues affected the industrial mindset. Andrew Carnegie and other industrial age pioneers learned from the tribulations of the coal industry and the 'company store" mentality and began providing for employees welfare long before unions. As a side note, probably considered a socialist by today’s standards Carnegie by his own choosing never relieved a salary greater than $50,000 yet at the time of his death had given away over $350 million dollars ( $4.3 billion, adjusted for inflation) You don't see that anymore!
I would have to check my library but I believe when I read the biography of Walter Chrysler, the founder of the motor company, that he actually began a employee pension program for his employees of his own free will. His father was a railroad engineer and rail employees were granted a meager pension. Henry Ford on the other hand fought the unions and providing pensions figuring he paid his employees above the US standard. Only after Ford was the last Indian standing did he relent and acquiesce to the unions.
Pensions in public service vary dramatically. The US Military provided pensions beginning just after the Civil War. Most police and fire pensions are patterned upon the US Military system. Some public employees pay a significant amount such as local police and firefighters to nearly nothing as in the case of some but NOT ALL school districts. Painting all pubic pensions as freebies is false and that is what Tobin infers.
Could have been W.W., not T.R., with John L. Lewis. I remembered reading it on the left-hand page, about 60% of the way down the page. Maybe will have to check the book out again and see if I can find it. Doesn't really matter to me at this time, although I'd like to refresh my memory on the part about the mines going bust while the non-union miners were still working.
Thanks for your insightful comments.
You're right that it doesn't matter but Teddy was involved in the 1902 Coal Strikes and tried to broker a deal between the Coal Barrons and the coal workers. Lewis came to fame later in the history of the unions. I'll give you a 'half right' on this one..... better than your usual record.
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