Familiar names on pension watch list for DuPage

Thursday, December 09, 2010
The National Taxpayers United of Illinois is hopping mad about public sector pensions, and wasn’t shy about naming names at its Wednesday press conference.

“Governor Pat Quinn has proposed a 33 percent increase in the state personal income tax, but an even worse state income tax increase is alive and well,” NTUI President Jim Tobin said, speaking at the College of DuPage.

Tobin said the bill — Illinois House Bill 174, passed by the state Senate last year — would also include a 7 to 10 percent sales tax on 39 different services, including Internet providers and cable television services.

Tobin made clear what he sees as the driving force behind the push for higher taxes. “Most of the income tax increase will go to finance pensions,” he said. “It won’t go to the needy or poor.”

Tobin referred to many of the pensioners as “pension millionaires” and noted that a state trooper retiring at 50 years old with 25 years of service would collect $5 million in pension money if he lived to 81; a teacher with a salary of $100,000 could retire at 55 and collect $3 million if he lived to the same age.

Tobin put the issue in the context of the $13 billion in unfunded pension mandates with which the state is struggling. “Obviously the state will go bankrupt if this continues,” he said.

A former candidate for statewide office himself, Tobin was scathing in his use of former Gov. Jim Edgar as the face of the swelling pension problem. Tobin said Edgar’s pension was $130,908, in addition to his annual salary of $177,630 for serving as a distinguished fellow at the University of Illinois. “This man never had an honest job in his life,” he said. “His main goal since 1996 has been promoting an income tax increase.”

Tobin offered a three-part solution to the state’s pension dilemma.

First, Tobin wants public employees to begin paying into Social Security like private sector workers, augmenting the system with 401(k) accounts. Second, current pensioners should be required to contribute something to their pensions to help defray costs. Last, all pensioners should pay half of their health care premiums.

If Tobin has his sights set on policy solutions, his daughter Christina Tobin has an idea how to ensure a more transparent, open government in Illinois. “We have the wrong people in office,” said the founder of the Free and Equal Elections Foundation.

Noting the recent controversy in Naperville over candidates for City Council being removed from the ballot, Tobin suggested following the lead of other states that give office-seekers the option of paying a filing fee in lieu of the standard practice of collecting signatures — signatures that often are the subject of lengthy and costly challenges.

She also advocates changing Illinois to a proportional representation system — legislative seats allocated based on the percentage of the vote a particular party earned — and using open-faced software to record votes and help guard against election fraud.

When told that challenging the votes of a candidate is an accepted and time-honored practice in Illinois, Tobin responded, “I don’t accept it. I’m here to shed light on open elections.”

Responding to a common argument that some jobs — cops and kindergarten teachers — are too strenuous for people past 50, Jim Tobin said, “Yes (they should have to work), just like teachers in the private system.”

The highest DuPage County pensions paid out by the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund are to Robert Dunsmuir, Wheaton Park District, ($140,889 yearly), Allen Poole, city of Naperville ($140,672), Ronald Reinecke, DuPage County ($140,121), Keith Frankland, Woodridge Park District ($135,339), and Raymond Morrill, Wheaton Park District ($133,953).

The highest DuPage pensions from the Teachers Retirement System are Gary Catalani, Wheaton Community Unit School District 200 ($237,195), Mary Curley, Hinsdale CCSD 181 ($226,645), Lawrence Baskin, Glen Ellyn CCSD 89 ($211,013), Donald Weber, Naperville CUSD 203 ($196,768), and James White, Queen Bee SD 16 ($192,875).

The figures are from the Illinois Taxpayers Education Foundation and are based on the figures available July 1


http://ht.ly/3mEp6