ITEF Pension Rant Reaches Perry County
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A new report by the Illinois Taxpayers Education Foundation reveals that many Perry County retired government employees receive pensions that exceed average annual wages of workers in the private sector.
It is part of the ITEF scrutiny that began last year with surveys of pensions in Cook County including pensions in excess of $250,000 for retired school administrators and police and fire commissioners.
"These outrageous government-employee pensions are bankrupting the state," said Jim Tobin, President of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI). "Gov. Patrick Quinn (D) just raised the state personal income tax 67%, all $6.8 billion taxpayer dollars of which is being used to fund the state's appalling pensions, said Tobin, head of the conservative think tank.
"Those receiving the largest annual pensions are retired government-school educators," said Tobin. The largest annual TRS pension goes to George Edwards, formerly of Pinckneyville Grade School District 50, whose annual pension is $86,487 -- $7,207 a month and Sandra Jerrells, formerly of Pinckneyville Community High School 101, who receives a monthly pension of $6,219, making her annual pension $74,624."
Retired building principals across the county are earning between $60,000 and $70,000 a month in retirement.
Some longtime tenured retired teaching personnel are receiving between $65,638 and $51,919 a year based on teaching salaries of between $87,517 and $43,757 in their last four years of service.
The report goes onto say that some Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund retired employees are receiving between $49,484 and $32,841 based on salaries from their last 12 months of service of between $70,356 and $42,678.
"But there is no need to raise the state income tax or cut government services. Three crucial reforms can save the system and spare Illinois taxpayers. First, new government hires should be put into social security and required to fund their own retirements with 401(k) plans."
"Second, in Illinois, if each current state pension fund employee were required to contribute an additional 10% to his or her pension, taxpayers would save over $150 billion over the next 35 years. And finally, requiring Illinois public employees to pay for one-half of their health care premiums would save even more - an estimated $230 billion over current projections."