New Hampshire Taxpayers Still Face Crushing Government Pensions

By on October 2, 2012   /   Latest, New Hampshire, Pension Reform  

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Manchester—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released the results of a new pension study for the cities of Manchester, Concord, and Nashua; the counties of Merrimack and Hillsborough; and New Hampshire State government retirees.
“New Hampshire lawmakers have only flirted with reforms of the government pension system,” stated Jim Tobin, president of TUA. “New Hampshire has one of the lowest funded ratios in the country and reforms are still in the discussion stage.”
“While residents across New Hampshire face crushing tax increases, falling home values, rising 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.”
“New Hampshire is the 19th 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 New Hampshire’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.”
Tobin continued, “For example, Stephen Tierney, retired from the Manchester municipal government and collects an annual pension of $103,600. His estimated lifetime pension payout is a stunning $2,590,011.*”
“Roger C. Brooks, retired from the Concord government schools, has an annual pension of $91,746, with a staggering estimated lifetime payout of $2,293,659.* ”
“Retired Nashua municipal government employee, Michael P. Buxton, has a lifetime estimated pension payout of $4,278,910*, with an annual pension of $109,716.”
View pension amounts below:

“New Hampshire’s government pensions are in serious trouble with no end in sight. 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 and the retirement age must be raised. Without such reforms, the system will collapse and pensions checks will simply stop coming,” added Tobin.
*Annual pensions are actual amounts provided by the respective fund. Lifetime estimates assume retirement at 60 for non-police and fire and retirement at 45 for police and fire. Uses a life expectancy of 85 (IRS Form 590).

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Pensions and Politics as Usual

By on September 25, 2012   /   Latest, Pension Reform  

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CHICAGO – It’s politics as usual in Chicago, despite growing national attention to the government employee pension crisis, according to the president of one of the country’s largest taxpayer organizations.
“Despite such articles as the Wall Street Journal’s 9/22/2012 ‘Pension Crisis’ proclamation, elected officials here and across the country seem to think the problem will go away if they ignore it,” said Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
“We have been sounding this alarm here in Illinois and across the country, and yet many, including those in the media, continue to ignore the magnitude of the pension problem.”
“Nearly every community is reaching the tipping point at which services needed today are being sacrificed for payment of services provided in the past.”
“Pension fund payments are squeezing out services, and nowhere is that more apparent than here in Chicago, where bureaucrats are calling for a $5 monthly electric surcharge, aka tax, to hire 700 additional police officers — positions eliminated from the current budget.”
“You might think that the Chicago government teachers’ strike was all about pensions, but no, the city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel didn’t even try to scale back the bloated teacher pensions. The mayor completely missed the opportunity to work on the problem for his constituents.”
“The country’s state and local government budgets are on the verge of disaster, and here in Chicago, Rahm’s rhetoric provides hot air but no solutions,” said Tobin.
“At least some, like Michael Corkery, of the Wall Street Journal, are able to see through the smoke and mirrors and call attention to the real problem with the budgets: unsustainable government pensions.”
“At every turn, politicians are looking for ways to raise taxes through additional fees and surcharges, but what they aren’t telling taxpayers is that every additional penny goes to pay for pensions that are devouring tax dollars that could have gone for services.”
“Yes, Rahm was blowing smoke when he was quoted as saying, ‘In past negotiations, taxpayers paid more but our kids got less. This time, our taxpayers are paying less, and our kids are getting more.’ Actually, Chicago homeowners will be paying more in real estate taxes, and the government-school teachers, not their pupils, will be pocketing the money.”
“But this isn’t just a Chicago problem, as many would like to believe. Our research of 18 states thus far in our nationwide pension tour reveals that government pension largesse is pervasive and consistent across the country, and very few bureaucrats have the political courage necessary to end unfunded pension liabilities altogether.”

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Fox News Illinois | Taxpayer advocate says Chicago teachers’ salaries ‘out of this world’

By on September 14, 2012   /   Illinois Press, Press  

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.

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