by: Diane Benjamin Local governments across the state are buried in unfunded pension debt. Pouring millions of dollars into pensions funds will not solve the problem. It is more than obvious pensions are an outdated idea abandoned by the private sector decades ago. Local pensions are controlled by Springfield. If they don’t fund their pensions, […]
by Diane Benjamin Being an Illinois legislator is supposed to be a part-time job. Their salary is at least $66,876, many earn much more by serving as chair of various committees. It looks like good news that 24 new public servants have decided to turn down a pension. Part-time jobs don’t come with pensions anywhere else, […]
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS & ADMINISTRATORS Sue to keep gold plated pensions Read the lawsuit here _______________ YET… TOP 100 School Administrator Pensions Exceed $180,000 per year,click here. AND… over 4,767 educators have $100,000 plus annual retirement pensions- to search Heat Map click here. This pension lawsuit is about protecting the perks of highly-compensated school administrators who don’t even […]
The annual required payment wasn’t ever enough to adequately fund pensions. Obviously making even the required payment wasn’t a priority. Most of the City Council voted YES on budgets knowing pensions weren’t funded. Now they want to raise gas and/or utility taxes because they couldn’t find cuts in the $169,000,000 budget for […]
$20 BILLION UNDER-FUNDED STATE UNIVERSITY PENSION PLAN (SURS) “Each passing day without pension reform threatens the excellence of higher education at the 65 colleges & universities.” Institute of Government & Public Affairs, University of Illinois March 12, 2013 Share on Facebook, Click here Vernon O. Crawley, Moraine Valley Community College $673,000 final year salary […]
and why Gary Niehaus wants to retire early Even if Illinois pension funds see investment returns that exceed expectations, that still won’t be enough to plug the largest fund’s hole. The Teachers’ Retirement System reported its pension underfunding grew to $55.73 billion as of June 30, 2013 — an increase of more than $3.5 billion […]
TOTAL EMPLOYEE PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS: $697.34 MILLION TOTAL FIRST YEAR PENSIONS: $561.48 MILLION (Average Time for return of employee contributions: 15 months) Visit our interactive “$100,000 Educator Pension Map” Click Here (Search by Retiree or […]
by: Diane Benjamin The following graphs are from openthebooks.com One thing that aggravates citizens more than anything else is government employees getting things the private sector would never consider. Most, if not all, Bloomington employees and accumulate sick days and get paid for them when they retire. Any private companies do that? How about basing […]
Chicago and downstate pols having been fighting over state money ever since the Windy City rose from the swamps along Lake Michigan. So regional funding squabbles are nothing new in the Illinois General Assembly. But to hear House Speaker Mike Madigan talk, one might think a bunch of downstate yokels are chowing down on feast […]
Not a single one of the state’s five public pension systems earned more than 1% returns on their investments last year. In fact, two of the five funds actually lost money. Although pension trustees predicted Illinois’ five pension funds would earn more than $5.1 billion in fiscal year 2012, the funds actually earned less than […]
Response by Carl Woodward to a Springfield newspaper story: (Carl has previously written about Bloomington and Normal debt http://blnnews.com/2012/12/14/bloomington-normal-illinois-governmental-theft/) I read your article. I know you wrote what was supplied to you, but you need to know the following so the readers are not mislead, not your fault. The “real” city budget is only balanced […]
by: Diane Benjamin According to the state Comptroller’s website: http://ledger.illinoiscomptroller.com/index.cfm/find-the-salary-of-a-state-employee/find-state-employee-salary-sql/ Salary paid through 11/30/2012 Dan Brady $75,123.95 (annual: $81,953.40) Bill Brady $77,382.03 (annual: $84,416.76) Keith Sommer $68,355.10 (annual: $74,569.20) GARS = General Assembly Retirement System This information was obtain under the Freedom of Information Act: Dan Brady has served 11 years and 11 months. He has […]
By Jonathan Ingram – Director of Health Policy and Pension Reform at Illinois Policy Institute In the mid-1990s, Illinois lawmakers were facing a serious problem: the unfunded liability of the state’s five public pension systems. By 1996, the state’s unfunded pension liability stood at $20 billion. As a way to combat this growing problem, the state […]
Talking with retired teachers, even those who believe that Illinois needs to get its budget in order, they all say, “Don’t touch my pension,” In fact, don’t touch anybody’s pension — it might affect me. Most won’t even consider giving up their 3 percent annual COLA. And so I ask all retired teachers, professors and […]
Shouldn’t the City of Bloomington issue the 4/31/2012 Financial Statements, which were due 10/31/2012, before asking for a tax increase? How is your pension doing? Government employees just take more from taxpayers when investments are lower than expected. Sweet deal!
Refer to the picture below from the 3/31/2-12 CAFR. (financial statement) Police Pensions Plan-funded Ratio has dropped from 64.83% in 2006 to 62.71% in 2012 Firefighter’s Pension Plan-funded ration has dropped from 73.05% in 2006 to 64.94% in 2012 See the chart below: For most of the years, Normal made more than the required contribution. […]
by Diane Benjamin First, Mike Madigan is behind the Amendment. This amendment is based on a bill passed by the Illinois House and Senate overwhelmingly last May: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GAID=11&GA=97&DocNum=49&DocTypeID=HJRCA&SessionID=84&LegID=67098&SpecSess=&Session= This amendment concentrates monetary power in Springfield. Here is a 2 page summary More Information at: http://www.suaa.org/assets/pdf/ImpairmentProvision.pdf?PHPSESSID=8cc7ec3dabdfdd7286d960220b1225ec Also: http://www.ilretirementsecurity.org/reports?id=0062 Summary: Mike Madigan is behind placing a Constitutional […]
by Diane Benjamin Democrats control the Illinois House Democrats control the Illinois Senate The Governor if a Democrat . . . and they have been in the majority for a long time. But they can’t pass anything to fix the fiscal mess in Illinois because Republicans aren’t helping. Sure. In other words, the Republicans haven’t […]
byline: Stanley Wonder Is it just me, or is something missing at Bloomington City Hall? No, not the usual trappings of government – the podiums, microphones, gavels, and flags. They’re all there, complete with the beautiful blue and gold of the United Nations. Huh? The UN? Isn’t that the organization that wants a New World […]
Click on the links below to see the current pensions being paid to retirees of District 87 and Unit 5. In 2009 the average HOUSEHOLD income in McLean County was $56,027 http://www.city-data.com/county/McLean_County-IL.html The average Social Check in 2012 is $1,230 or $14,760 a year http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/13/~/average-monthly-social-security-benefit-for-a-retired-worker The pension system at ALL levels of government was set […]
Update: Taxes next year are going to skyrocket! If you don’t believe yet that the TEA Party is your ONLY hope to preserve Liberty and Freedom in America – welcome to socialist America. The mandate under the commerce clause was ruled unconstitutional, but Congress has the RIGHT to tax – even though it was never […]
Per Capita Personal Income 2010-2011 per the Town of Normal Financial Statements Page 137: $38,882 The average HOUSEHOLD income in Normal from 2006-2010 was $50,304 http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/1753234.html 246 of the 361 retirees received more in retirement than the per person income in Normal 186 of the 361 retirees received more in retirement than the average HOUSEHOLD […]
Now that Gov Quinn has decided pensions have to be reformed, what do some teachers think? Below are excerpts from a Twitter conversation I had with 2 teachers responding to the BLNNews post concerning pensions: The names were removed to protect their privacy. Keep in mind, Twitter users have to abbreviate because tweets are only […]
From Gov Quinn’s E-Newsletter today: Illinois is at a crossroads. After decades of fiscal mismanagement, the time has come to move forward – and we must all work together to put our state on sound fiscal footing. State pensions along with Medicaid place the largest strain on our state budget. The combined stress of these […]
I attended yesterday’s TRS presentation at Normal Community High School. Click here to see the presentation: http://trs.illinois.gov/subsections/press/TownHalls_Spring2012.pdf The presentation appears to over-inflate their actual investment earnings. Click here to see results from their site: http://trs.illinois.gov/subsections/investments/investments.htm While I can completely understand the promises made to teachers, similar promises were made to Social Security recipients, present and […]
