Comments on: Taxpayers United: Pensions of retired government employees ‘sucking the system dry’ http://rockrivertimes.com/2011/01/19/taxpayers-united-pensions-of-retired-government-employees-%e2%80%98sucking-the-system-dry%e2%80%99/ The Rock River Times - THE VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1993 Wed, 22 May 2013 21:52:05 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Caitlyn http://rockrivertimes.com/2011/01/19/taxpayers-united-pensions-of-retired-government-employees-%e2%80%98sucking-the-system-dry%e2%80%99/comment-page-1/#comment-2464 Caitlyn Mon, 04 Apr 2011 01:22:38 +0000 http://rockrivertimes.com/?p=28548#comment-2464 Taxpayers United...this site is so biased it's not even funny. How about reporting that taxpayers united is a Koch funded thing? Wanna talk about high blood pressures and over paying people- take a look at corporations and oil tycoons. I'd rather give a teacher a $5,000 a month pension than to give GE a $4 billion dollar tax credit- they didn't pay taxes and in fact received a refund at tax time. We the people give Koch Industries (along with lots of other corporations) welfare. Millions upon millions. Taxpayers United…this site is so biased it’s not even funny. How about reporting that taxpayers united is a Koch funded thing? Wanna talk about high blood pressures and over paying people- take a look at corporations and oil tycoons. I’d rather give a teacher a $5,000 a month pension than to give GE a $4 billion dollar tax credit- they didn’t pay taxes and in fact received a refund at tax time. We the people give Koch Industries (along with lots of other corporations) welfare. Millions upon millions.

]]> By: bookwrm http://rockrivertimes.com/2011/01/19/taxpayers-united-pensions-of-retired-government-employees-%e2%80%98sucking-the-system-dry%e2%80%99/comment-page-1/#comment-1945 bookwrm Sun, 23 Jan 2011 00:07:45 +0000 http://rockrivertimes.com/?p=28548#comment-1945 The people mentioned here as earning pensions from TRS are administrators for the most part. You really should separate them from the average classroom teacher whose pensions will be far less than what you have shown here. And amazingly, Alan Brown was in the TRS for the few years he worked as the Superintendent in Rockford. So look at what they can earn for decades after working here for a short time! The people mentioned here as earning pensions from TRS are administrators for the most part. You really should separate them from the average classroom teacher whose pensions will be far less than what you have shown here. And amazingly, Alan Brown was in the TRS for the few years he worked as the Superintendent in Rockford. So look at what they can earn for decades after working here for a short time!

]]> By: Dan http://rockrivertimes.com/2011/01/19/taxpayers-united-pensions-of-retired-government-employees-%e2%80%98sucking-the-system-dry%e2%80%99/comment-page-1/#comment-1942 Dan Fri, 21 Jan 2011 23:14:01 +0000 http://rockrivertimes.com/?p=28548#comment-1942 I hated to read this because of high blood pressure I hated to read this because of high blood pressure

]]> By: LINDA HORRELL http://rockrivertimes.com/2011/01/19/taxpayers-united-pensions-of-retired-government-employees-%e2%80%98sucking-the-system-dry%e2%80%99/comment-page-1/#comment-1935 LINDA HORRELL Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:05:33 +0000 http://rockrivertimes.com/?p=28548#comment-1935 Jim Tobin stated: “the real reason Gov. Patrick Quinn (D) wants to raise the state personal income tax up to 67 percent. He wants to pump taxpayer dollars into the state’s floundering pension programs.” Later the story goes on to list information about members who retired from the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF), leading the reader to believe that the state income increase will be used to fund IMRF. IMRF, which represents approximately 182,000 municipal employees, is NOT a state pension, and is not related to local police, fire or teacher pensions. IMRF is funded by participating individual municipal employers, participating employees and primarily by investment returns. Moreover, it is critical to look at the average pensions that benefit a majority of the public employees, not the exceptions. There are 93,298 Illinois municipal workers who receive pensions from IMRF. An average IMRF member retiring in 2009 had 20 years of service and receives a monthly benefit of $1,248. Importantly, there are another 181,380 municipal employees who perform valuable services for towns and villages across the state. Finally, at the end of 2010, we estimate IMRF was 86.4% funded. It is a reasonable pension system paying reasonable benefits. Linda Horrell IMRF Communications Manager www.imrf.org Jim Tobin stated: “the real reason Gov. Patrick Quinn (D) wants to raise the state personal income tax up to 67 percent. He wants to pump taxpayer dollars into the state’s floundering pension programs.”

Later the story goes on to list information about members who retired from the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF), leading the reader to believe that the state income increase will be used to fund IMRF.

IMRF, which represents approximately 182,000 municipal employees, is NOT a state pension, and is not related to local police, fire or teacher pensions.

IMRF is funded by participating individual municipal employers, participating employees and primarily by investment returns.

Moreover, it is critical to look at the average pensions that benefit a majority of the public employees, not the exceptions.

There are 93,298 Illinois municipal workers who receive pensions from IMRF. An average IMRF member retiring in 2009 had 20 years of service and receives a monthly benefit of $1,248. Importantly, there are another 181,380 municipal employees who perform valuable services for towns and villages across the state.

Finally, at the end of 2010, we estimate IMRF was 86.4% funded. It is a reasonable pension system paying reasonable benefits.

Linda Horrell
IMRF Communications Manager
http://www.imrf.org

]]> By: Richard Kanak http://rockrivertimes.com/2011/01/19/taxpayers-united-pensions-of-retired-government-employees-%e2%80%98sucking-the-system-dry%e2%80%99/comment-page-1/#comment-1931 Richard Kanak Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:21:48 +0000 http://rockrivertimes.com/?p=28548#comment-1931 For those workers who continue to struggle to sustain their lives through strenuous physical work with no golden retirement package in the future it is difficult to defend the largess of some of these amounts. It is interesting that all the amounts listed are well above the median income for the county. I am jealous and wish to know the path to the golden years of retirement which I failed to follow. For those workers who continue to struggle to sustain their lives through strenuous physical work with no golden retirement package in the future it is difficult to defend the largess of some of these amounts. It is interesting that all the amounts listed are well above the median income for the county.

I am jealous and wish to know the path to the golden years of retirement which I failed to follow.

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