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Quincy Journal | Study shows impact of Quincy, Adams County pension liability

By on November 1, 2012   /   Illinois Press, Press  

TUA’s government pension study on Adams County, Illinois, was featured in the Quincy Journal.
Quincy—Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released the results of a new pension study for the Quincy municipal government employees, Adams County government employees and Adams County government teachers.
“Illinois lawmakers have only flirted with reforms of the government pension system,” stated Jim Tobin, president of TUA. “Illinois is in just about the worst financial shape and yet taxpayers are still expected to pour their hard earned money into a failed system.”
“While residents across Adams County 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.”
“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. Area taxpayers, whose average income is $39,000, need to know how much Quincy’s government retirees are being paid not to work and the astronomical accumulation of those payments over an average lifetime.”
“For example, Nicholas N. Schildt, retired from government school district 172 and collected a 2012 pension of $194,663,” Tobin said. “His starting pension, when he retired, was $153,532. He has received more than the average annual wage for this area in cost of living adjustments alone. His estimated lifetime pension payout is stunning $6.9 million, of which he only contributed 2.4%.*”
View pension amounts below:

“Illinois’ 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.”
“The only way taxpayers will get relief from the tax-raisers who ‘temporarily’ increased our income tax by 67% is to throw all the Democrats out of Springfield and make Madigan the house minority leader,” added Tobin. “If we don’t, taxes will go even higher and the pension system will collapse anyway. It’s mathematically impossible to tax your way out of this problem. Illinois has more than 6,700 retirees collecting more than $100,000; in about 8 years, that will be over 25,000 six figure pensioners.”
*Lifetime estimated pension payout assumes life expectancy of 85 (IRS Form 590).
Jim Tobin was a guest on WTAD’s Mary Griffith Show today. www.wtad.com.
To learn more, visit  www.taxpayersunited.org.
Click to read the Quincy School District’s resolution ending pension sweetners.

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Forest Leaves | River Forest to decide on home rule

By on November 1, 2012   /   Illinois Press, Press  

Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America, was quoted in a Forest Leaves article on River Forest’s home rule referendum.
RIVER FOREST — When River Forest residents vote polls Nov. 6, they will decide whether the village should get home-rule powers.
Village Administrator Eric Palm admitted home rule has been an abstract sell, with so many factors involved.
“When you go to referendum for a specific tax bond issue, there is cause and effect. We say, ‘Give us X dollars, and we will do this,’” Palm said. “Those questions are easier to understand. Home rule is more challenging.”
Towns with populations of more than 25,000 are granted home-rule power. Communities with populations under 25,000 need to be given home-rule authority via referendum. Home rule allows communities to sidestep certain statutes set by the state, such as tax caps. River Forest has said it will abide by tax caps if given home-rule authority.
The village has contended there is not one issue driving its effort. Officials have said the possibility of shifting some of the tax burden from residents to non-residents, with items such as gas and place-of-eating taxes, is one reason for the push.
They also contend home-rule authority would give the village options to more quickly deal with abandoned properties, zoning issues and unscrupulous contractors.
Palm said two-thirds of the community will get educational materials on home rule in their water bills, mailed Nov. 1.
“We have talked about home rule at several board meetings, at the (River Forest Service Club) forum, through different channels.” Palm said. “We hope residents will go and vote based on the educational materials. We just do our job and leave it up to the voters … It is not my role to tell people how to vote.”
Jim Tobin, president and founder of Taxpayers United of America, said talk about controlling the community’s future is common in the nine home-rule referendums his group is fighting in Illinois this election.
“That’s the standard line of baloney they are instructed to give out in their push for unlimited taxing power,” Tobin said. “They are asking residents to give away their vote on future tax increases.”
Home rule questions are on the ballot in four other Chicago area communities –Maywood, Homer Glen, Kenilworth and Westmont. Downstate communities voting on the issue are Edwardsville, Elkville, Harrisburg and Mount Vernon.
Taxpayers United has already distributed 500 anti-home rule fliers in River Forest and intends to pass out more, Tobin said. He said village pensions, some at $93,000 and $85,000 annually, are the real reason for the home-rush push.
“Village Hall is looking to get new tax dollars to fund the gold-plated, lavish pensions,” Tobin said. “They want taxpayers to pay for village employees retiring at a relatively young age when we basically all work until we drop. It is obscene and immoral. Millions and billions are being paid (statewide) for nothing.”

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