View Release as PDF
CHICAGO—Illinois politicians and government union bosses are trying to deflect criticism of their lavish, gold-plated pensions by throwing out a deceptive “average” pension figure of $30,000, according to the president of one of the country’s largest taxpayer organizations
“The government unions are desperate to confuse taxpayers and the news media,” said Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA). “They claim that the ‘excessive, multimillion dollar pensions’ we publish are misleading because the ‘average’ government pension in the state’s pension system is much lower. They keep throwing out $30,000 as the ‘average’ government pension which is intentionally misleading.”
“By far the largest state pension system is the Teacher’s Retirement System. The estimated average pension for 2010 was $65,000, according to the Illinois Policy Institute. Even TRS states the average pension as $48,216.”
“The full pension of a teacher in Illinois (outside of the Chicago Public School system) is 75% of the average salary in the four highest consecutive years in the last 10 years of teaching. This is a very generous way to determine an employee’s pension. Then there are the 3% per year cost-of-living increases on top of that every year which double annual pensions after only 24 years.”
“These low averages that they like to throw around include all part-time employee pensions as well as all of the small pensions of those who didn’t stay in the employment of the participating government for very long. Even at the understated $30,000, that is more than twice as much as the average Social Security pension.”
“According to Crain’s, only about 3% of private sector employees get defined benefit pensions comparable to the government employee pensions. So, that means about 97% of workers retiring from the private sector will get the average Social Security pension of only $14,800 and Medicare, which requires additional out of pocket expense for supplemental coverage. Government employees enjoy premium healthcare coverage before and after they are retired that does not require any supplementation and at no expense to them.”
“But these bureaucrats aren’t fooling anyone any more. Everyone knows, thanks to groups like us exposing the government pension scam, that all of the money from the recent 67% increase in the state personal income tax is being poured into the floundering state pension funds, and they are still under water.”
“The State of Illinois’ credit rating was just downgraded, making Illinois the state with the worst credit rating in the country. Whether the average government pension is $30,000 or $100.000, is really irrelevant. The Illinois government bureaucrats and union bosses are destroying Illinois and as many taxpayers as they have to, in order to prop up the government employee pension scam which will collapse under their watch.”
View as PDF
CONTACT:
Herbert Sorock
(847) 251-8955 (h)
email: h.sorock@gmail.com
WILMETTE, IL –Wilmette School District 39 has failed to substantiate its December 3, 2012, claim in a media release that its April 2011 referendum ballot language “correctly followed Illinois law as it existed at that time.”
On January 18, 2013, Sorock submitted a written Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the District, asking for all materials “supporting, explaining, or justifying” its claim that the April 2011 referendum ballot language “followed Illinois law as it existed at that time.” The District responded to Sorock’s FOIA request with only one document—a draft version of its December 3, 2012, media release showing that one of the District’s attorneys—Ares G. Dalianis— had inserted the claim language into the release.
Sorock, along with Taxpayers United of America (TUA), had sued the District to reverse tax increases that were a result of illegal ballot language in an April 2011 referendum election. In November 2012, Sorock and TUA asked the First District Appellate Court to dismiss their suit due to the earlier reluctance of the courts to enforce the clear requirements of Illinois property tax law.”
“At the December 28, 2012, District 39 Board of Education meeting, I challenged the District to substantiate its ‘followed Illinois law’ assertion, and later followed up with a FOIA request for any information that would have supported their claim,” said Sorock. “It is now clear that the District is unable to do so. As TUA and I demonstrated in our lawsuit, the required calculation of an individual’s property tax increase was understated by more than a factor of three.
“The District has continued to blame TUA and me for the costs associated with defending the District’s April 2011 referendum language. Now that we know conclusively that the District itself allowed legally non-forming language to be placed on the ballot, the District should not look to blame those who uncovered the error, but instead those who made the flawed calculation of the tax impact in the first place,” Sorock concluded.
For more information, please contact h.sorock@gmail.com.
Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United for America, was quoted in the Chicago Tribune on turning the Elgin-O’Hare into a tollway.
The federal government has signed off on an agreement allowing the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway to be converted into a tollway, officials said this week.
The decision will give the Illinois Tollway the authority to include the 20-year-old highway in its Elgin-O’Hare Western Access Project, according to officials in Washington, D.C., and Illinois.
The $3.4 billion project calls for building a tollway running along the western border of O’Hare International Airport. The tollway will link the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) and the Tri-State Tollway (I-294).
This “bypass” tollway will connect with the existing Elgin-O’Hare Expressway, which will be widened and extended east along Thorndale Avenue. The decision by the U.S. Transportation Department allows tolls to be charged.
In addition to federal approval, the tollway agency said it also needs approval from the state and is working on a General Assembly joint resolution to include the Elgin-O’Hare plan.
The U.S. has the authority to make the Elgin-O’Hare eligible to be a tollway under terms of the transportation bill that President Barack Obama signed into law in July, said a spokesman for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
“I am pleased that we found a solution, so that when built, this project can provide mobility for the people of Illinois for generations to come,” LaHood said in a statement.
The decision was hailed by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Tammy Duckworth, who represents the area, as well as Gov. Pat Quinn and tollway Executive Director Kristi Lafleur.
The 12.5-mile Elgin-O’Hare was built in 1993 for $220 million. Despite its name, it connects neither Elgin nor O’Hare. It runs between U.S. Highway 20 (Lake Street) near Hanover Park and Interstate 290 in Itasca.
Backed by an advisory council’s report, Quinn in 2011 called for the project to be built to help stimulate the regional economy and potentially create thousands of jobs. At Quinn’s urging, the tollway authority later adopted the project.
But the move to turn the expressway into a toll road has stirred some critics.
James Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America, called the plan an example of “empire-building” on the part of tollway officials.
“The road already exists as freeway,” Tobin said. “The tollway was set up to build new roads. … It’s a new revenue source and allows them to line their pockets, get pay raises and retire in pension glory.”
Tobin’s group took the tollway to court last year in an unsuccessful challenge of the near-doubling of tolls to pay for the agency’s $12.1 billion rebuilding program, called Move Illinois. The Elgin-O’Hare project is the centerpiece of that effort.
The new Elgin-O’Hare is expected to take 12 years to complete. To begin work, the tollway plans to spend $95.6 million this year. Potential construction includes noise walls along the existing Elgin-O’Hare, a Rohlwing Road (Illinois Route 53) grade separation and the construction of a new bridge to carry southbound Elmhurst Road traffic over I-90.
As part of the project, the tollway plans to build a $30 million ramp via York Road to access O’Hare property.
There are, however, no plans to construct a western terminal, as once hoped, because of the lack of an agreement between the city of Chicago and the major airlines at O’Hare, led by United and American.
The tollway authority, meanwhile, announced that 10 financial firms will be the underwriters for the first $1 billion in bonds for Move Illinois. An additional 10 firms will underwrite $500 million in refinanced existing debt.
The underwriting fee will not exceed $2.50 per $1,000 worth of bonds, tollway finance chief Michael Colsch said.
Tollway officials also announced Thursday a proposal to give motorists a total of three months instead of two to respond to toll violation notices.
Officials said the plan would be fairer to customers and is in line with toll agencies in other states. The proposal will need further approval, however.
The tollway board also approved a $1 million contract with Gilbane Building Co., of Chicago, to review construction practices and work that has been performed, officials said.
