Chicago Government-School Administrators Really, Really Rake in the Bucks!

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CHICAGO–The news that well-paid Chicago government-school teachers have gone on strike because they didn’t get a 29% increase in salaries over 2 years draws attention from the even more outrageous salaries that Chicago government-school administrators are getting, according to Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
“Our recently-obtained list of the ‘Top 100’ Chicago government-school administrator salaries reveals that these are the guys who are pulling in the really big bucks — courtesy of Chicago taxpayers.”
Download the top 100 administrator salaries for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) here.

“At the top of our Top 100 list, Jean Claude Brizard, Chief Executive Officer, gets an annual salary of $250,000. Chief Administrative Officer, Timothy J. Cawley, receives $215,000.”
“Alicia Winckler, Chief Talent Officer — whatever that means — gets $205,000. David G. Watkins, Chief Financial Officer, pulls in $195,000.”
“Even at the bottom of our Top 100 list — number 100 — Principal Martha Alba gets a generous annual salary of $142,203. Not a bad salary for being number 100.”
“The greed of the Chicago government-school teachers and their well-to-do administrative counterparts is so obvious that I’m surprised Chicago taxpayers haven’t revolted and demanded that the striking teachers be fired and replaced with non-union personnel. Chicago is broke, and the government-school system also is broke. Cook County taxpayers, with average wages of $58,000 and a median home value of $269,000, have their backs to the wall. Chicago taxpayers need to say to the Mayor and to the Chicago Teachers Union: ENOUGH!”

Raleigh Taxpayers Crushed by Platinum Government Pensions

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Raleigh—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released the results of a new pension study of Raleigh, Wake County, and North Carolina State government retirees.
“North Carolina lawmakers have only flirted with reforms of the government pension system, and not without boosting their own pensions,” stated Rae Ann McNeilly, Director of Outreach for TUA. “North Carolinians have been led to believe that their system is in good health, but with inflated actuarial practices and a limping economy, meaningful reforms are imperative.”
“While residents across North Carolina face crushing taxes, falling home values, 9.3% unemployment, and a painfully slow economic recovery, government employees continue to receive stunning pensions largely funded by taxpayers who will never collect more than about $22,000 a year from Social Security.”
“North Carolina is the 18th state in our nationwide pension reform tour and the results are consistent with our findings across the country: government pensions are out of control. Across the country, millions of bureaucrats are being paid billions, to do absolutely nothing!”
“The purpose of our study is to put some perspective around individual pensions, to put them in terms to which the average taxpayer can relate. Taxpayers need to know how much North Carolina’s government retirees are being paid not to work and the astronomical accumulation of those payments over an average lifetime. Hundreds of government retirees’ pensions being released today will accumulate to millions of dollars in payouts.”
McNeilly continued, “For example, Dempsey E. Benton, retired at age 55 from the Raleigh Municipal Government and collects an annual pension of $116,327. His estimated lifetime pension payout is $3,700,959.*”
Larry E. Price, retired from state government at the age of 53, has an annual pension of $208,166, with a staggering estimated lifetime payout of $7,762,391.*
“Retired Wake County government teacher, William R. McNeal, has a lifetime estimated pension payout of $4,546,706*, with an annual pension of $162,019, having retired at 59.”
View pension amounts below:

“North Carolina’s government pension systems are crushing middle class North Carolinians. Government employees should be paid a fair wage for the work they do today so they can save for their own retirement. Replacing defined benefit pensions for all new government hires with social security and 401(k)s would eventually eliminate unfunded government pensions. Current government employees must consider a voluntary pension contribution of up to 10% to preserve their pension benefits. Additionally, all members should pay for 50% of their healthcare premiums. We need a stable system that is fair to both taxpayers and beneficiaries or pension checks will stop coming,” added McNeilly.
*Annual pensions are actual amounts provided by the respective fund. Lifetime estimates include the sum of the pension paid to date and the projected remaining payments with a 1% COLA. Uses a life expectancy of 85 (IRS Form 590), the actual retirement date and age at retirement