McHenry County Blog

The pro-abortion Personal PAC launched its second mailing on behalf of Dee Baubien (Ind.-Madigan) in her race against Republican David McSweeney. It arrived on the last workday of the third week of October.

It features former George Ryan Lt. Gov. Corrine Wood (not implicated in any of Ryan’s misdeeds), along with candidate Beaubien. It has a lot of panels, which you can see below:

The address side of the Corrine Wood piece from Personal PAC.

Here’s the back of the piece as it arrived in mailboxes:

Famous pairs, including Thelma and Louise, who into eternity off a cliff in a convertible, are shown on the back of the mailing.  Click to enlarge any image.

Inside is a foldout,

First appears Dee Beaubien’s photograph.

The second in the feature pair in this mailing comes next.

The pair appear together on this panel.

Text appears on the next panel.

A more detailed explanation of the joint Dee Beaubien-Corrine Woods message appears here, compliments of Personal PAC. Click to enlarge.

The piece has two more panels that are meant to be read together. You see them chopped up below here, so put them together in your mind.

And, the final part of the mailing has a large photo of Corrine Woods.

Corrine Wood appears on this part of the flyer.

While Beaubien’s campaign was going after abortion, McSweeney’s was warning of the real estate tax hike that Mike Madigan wants to impose upon all parts of Illinois outside of Chicago.

This could be a knock-knock joke from the address side of David McSweeney’s post card.

On the back McSweeney links Beaubien to Madigan.

The text talks about how Democrat Mike Madigan wants to increase school district taxes to bail out the obligation that state lawmakers did not fulfill over the years. The copy does not reveal that teacher unions urged legislators to divert the money allocated for pension payments in numerous governors’ budgets to State Aid to Education. With the pension guarantee in the State Constitution, teacher union lobbyists believe they could increase the pension base with higher salaries without having to worry about the resulting pension payments being made. Click to enlarge the image.

Here’s what one sees on the Downstate Teachers Retirement Fund web site.  The “Retirement Security for Illinois Educators” seems a bit optimistic.

At the end of this money, Moody’s, the bond rating company, will start using lower estimated interest rates to calculate pension liabilities for state and local governments, according to the Washington Post.

Pension gaps are expected to triple

A more honest way of reporting is the goal, the Post reports.

The Post does a goo job explaining how lowering the estimated rate of return raises the pension debt here.

In Illinois the Teachers Retirement Fund would show an unfunded liability of 83 percent under the new reporting requirements.

TRS Spokesman is quoted in the Post as describing the change as “a public relations problem.”

Illinois Policy Institute Local Pension Accountability Tour panelists in Crystal Lake were, from left to right, IEA Spokesman Mike Sayre, a District 155 teacher at Harbor Oaks Annex Academy, Crystal Lake Grade School Board President Jeff Mason and Illinois Policy Institute staff member Diane Rickert.

I went to the Illinois Policy Institute’s Pension.  Got there a little late and was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was over an hour after it started.

Mike Sayre

Representing the Illinois Education Association was Crystal Lake High School teacher Mike Sayre.

I waited in vain for him to accept the responsibility his union and the Illinois Federation of Teachers had in helping create the teacher pension mess.

As I thought about it, I conclude he was too young to know what IEA and IFT lobbyists had done over the years to shortchange the Teachers Retirement System.

Although I have written about this before, let me repeat the scenario that went on year after year after year after year.

The Governor’s budget would have “X” hundreds of millions of dollars for education.

Included would be recommendations for K-12, universities and pensions.

As the session went on teacher union lobbyists would ask for more money for State Aid to Education.  In other words, for current salaries.

Where would that money come from?

The pension portion of the education budget.

Concurrently, those same lobbyists would be trying to improve teacher pensions.  Think  early retirement.  (I was astounded that one of my high school classmates who went into teaching was able to retire at age 52.)

The effect?

Higher teacher salaries, which, in turn, led to higher teacher pensions…while the pension fund was being shorted.

So, when Mike Sayre blames the legislators for not paying what they should have over the years, he is partly right.

The part he doesn’t know about is that his union urged those legislators to do what he complained about Tuesday night.

He said the IEA wants a guarantee that the General Assembly will put money into the Teachers Retirement Fund.

It is virtually impossible for one General Assembly to bind a future General Assembly.

It would be like telling future IEA lobbyists not to try to improve benefits for current dues paying members, that is active teachers.

Just trying to parcel out the responsibility for the mess all parties got us taxpayers in.

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On the IEA handout for the event was the following assertion: “The pension crisis was caused by politicians who diverted the pension system payments to other programs.”

What other programs?

State Aid to Education so current salaries could be raised with the assumption that pension payments would take care of themselves. After all the Illinois Constitution says pensions can’t be impaired.

Even I told teachers that for years when they expressed concerns.

I filed a Freedom of Information request with Illinois’ Downstate Teachers Retirement Fund.

I came up dry and got a reply through an email.

This letter with $5.75 postage did not need to be sent since the reply to McHenry County Blog's Freedom of Information request was answered by email.

But, TRS also sent me a letter by Certified Mail

I talked to them about it, telling the Freedom of Information Office that the letter was unnecessary.

I told them if I wasn’t home I would not bother to go the Post Office to sign for it.

Nevertheless, TRS sent a certified letter.

It cost $5.75.

The same day, I received a reply from the City of Crystal Lake.

It came by regular mail.

Not that Crystal Lake didn’t used to be swimming in enough money to send replies by certified mail. I got four one day in 2009 when postage was $5.32 a letter.

Most governments comply with my requests via email.

Good enough for me and less work and cost to the government.

Not the Teachers Retirement System of the State of Illinois.

It uses money it doesn’t have enough of to reply at the highest cost possible.

No, I guess hand delivery would be more expensive.

Roger Eddy

Double-dipping State Rep. Roger Eddy is due to jump from salaries for being in the General Assembly, plus being a school superintendent to that of the CEO of the Illinois Association of School Boards.

There, he will continue to be able to participate in the Downstate Teachers Retirement Fund, credits from which he will be able to transfer to the General Assembly Retirement when he retires.

The current IASB Executive, Michael D. Johnson, retired, as far as the Teachers Retirement System is concerned, in 2008. His last contribution to TRS was $30,141 in the 2007-2008 school year based on reportable earnings of $320,656.

So, figure he has 31 years or so in the TRS.

He’s 51 years old.

Currently he earns $283,520 per year, according to Adam Andrzejewski’s research.

So, you figure that a man with Eddy’s ability to milk public cash cows would not even think about leaving his two public jobs unless he would get a raise.

Unless he thought he was about to lose one of those public jobs in a contested Republican primary election.

In the Illinois Manufacturers Association poll, however, he was ahead 52-9-6.

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Related articles:

• Illinois Association of School Boards Announces State Rep. Roger Eddy as New Exec.
• Is Roger Eddy Heading to Taxeater Heaven?

Photo credit: Statehouse News Service.

It seems I misunderstand the chart I got from Illinois House Republicans

CPA Michael Laird looked at how I described the numbers and figured out that what I put up was teachers’ salaries, not the amount required to pay for their pensions.

So look at his revised numbers, which amount to $69 a year for school districts covering McHenry County.

That’s right, every year.

Click to enlarge these projected additional annual payments that property taxpayers will have to pick up if Democrats get their wish to push pension payments down to the local level.

“That is the expected annual employer contribution assuming the full burden is transferred to local districts,” Laird writes.

“It is a best guess based on the state’s purported contribution,” he continued.

“Logically speaking, the state claims to put in about 25%.  Keep in mind this is for all certified employees including administrators.  This total represent thousands of employees.  For most districts, it will amount to 10-15% of their annual budgets.

“On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the most correct way to design and maintain a government pension, the state’s score for how it established and maintained TRS should be a negative 22.

“It is my understanding the the original expectation was that the state would contribute around 10%, effectively a match to the combined employee/district contribution.

“Underfunding/nonfunding of the state’s share, mismanagement, reasonable market wide investments losses,  increased life expectancies, and (to a lesser degree as I understand it) abuses like salary spiking have increased the proportion required over the decades.”

I aksed the TRS spokesman Dave Urbanek if his agency had numbers and got this response:

“TRS is not doing any calculations at this time regarding the shift in employer normal cost or the effects of no state contribution for TRIP. We have not seen either proposal in bill form. There are a number of different ways that these ‘shifts’ could be implemented and we will wait until the language is more firm before estimates are calculated.”

A press release from State Rep. Kent Gaffney:

House Republicans: Democrat Pension Shift would be Disastrous for Local Schools, Property Taxpayers

Springfield…A Democrat-backed plan to shift a portion of the state’s pension obligation to local schools and universities would be disastrous for the schools and for the taxpayers that fund them, a group of House Republicans stressed today.

At a Capitol press conference, the lawmakers said that simply shifting the pension funding burden does nothing to solve the core problem, and would inevitably lead to property tax increases and teacher layoffs.

Ed Sullivan

“Illinois has the worst funded pension system in the country, simply shifting a portion of the financial responsibility to local school districts and public universities does nothing to reduce long-term costs or stabilize our pension systems.

“This is basically rearranging deck chairs while the Titanic continues to sink,” said Representative Ed Sullivan (R-Mundelein).

Kent Gaffney

Representative Kent Gaffney (R- Lake Barrington) said the Democrats’ pension shift would eat up about 9% of local school districts’ total payroll budgets. For the Wauconda School District 118 in his area, that would mean about $2.24 million.

“Schools are already waiting months for reimbursement from the state and school transportation dollars have been slashed.

“If the Democrats move forward with the shift, schools will have even fewer payroll dollars to pay teachers’ salaries, and will be forced to enact layoffs,” Gaffney said.

Rich Morthland

Representative Rich Morthland (R-Cordova) said he’s also extremely concerned about the certain impact the shift would have on family budgets already stretched to the breaking point.

“This shift will leave schools no place to go but back to their local property taxpayers. It will lead to huge property tax increases and tuition increases for our university students.

“Families are already struggling under the 67% income tax increase Democrats’ forced upon them last year. Adding property tax and tuition increases on top of that would be absolutely devastating,” Morthland said.

“Nearly one year ago Quinn signed into law massive tax increases on working families, seniors and businesses, and now Quinn wants to move forward with another ill-advised plan to reform pensions by raising taxes. . . property taxes,” said State Representative Paul Evans (R-O’Fallon)

“I am in strong support of reforming our state’s pension system which faces $83 billion in unfunded liabilities, but I am adamantly opposed to shifting that massive financial burden on homeowners’ property tax bills.   The Governor must stop seeing tax hikes as a solution to every state problem and come to the table to discuss with lawmakers long-term reform plans to get our state back on track.”

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Here’s how much the Democrats teacher pension payment shifting plan will cost McHenry County taxpayers:

Nippersink School District 2   $6,426,544.26
Fox River Grove CSD 3                2,957,690.47
Johnsburg CUSD 12                   12,905,616.00
McHenry CCSD 15                        21,799,110.51
Riley CCSD 18                                1,540,489.81
Alden Hebron SD 19                     2,362,422.73
Cary CCSD 26                               13,393,572.90
Harrison School District 36         1,8419,44.57
Prairie Grove CSD 46                     527,0855.16
Crystal Lake CCSD 47                 41,022,943.64
Harvard CUSD 50                         9,992,328.99
Marengo CHSD 154                        456,6891.59
Community HSD 155                   46,971,492.57
McHenry CHSD 156                     14,307,461.66
Richmond Burton HSCD 157       4,293,500.77
Huntley CSD 158                            37,778,116.01
Marengo-Union ECSD 165             417,9408.47
Woodstock CUSD 200                  31,476,784.34

That’s how I read this press release from State Rep. Mike Tryon.

The first one to do systematic research on the subject of school districts paying both the employer and the employee side of teachers’ pensions was former Huntley School Board member Larry Snow. You can read his analysis in the article below:

39% of Illinois Teachers Pay Nothing for Pensions

Tryon’s press release follws:

State Rep. Mike Tryon Files Transparency Legislation for Property Tax Bills

SPRINGFIELD…..Representative Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake) has filed a bill to increase transparency on property tax bills.

House Bill 3936 would amend the Illinois Property Tax Code by mandating that any taxing district which pays a percentage of its employees’ contributions to a public pension fund include on tax bills the dollar amount of tax due that would be used to for that purpose.

Mike Tryon

“For the last 30-plus years, units of government have had to list on tax bills the amount of taxes due that represent the employer’s portion of pension benefits,” said Tryon.

“What many people don’t know is that many units of government also pick up a portion of the employee’s share of pension costs.”

According to Tryon, his goal is to see that all pension systems are treated equally with regard to disclosure.

He added that if successful, taxpayers would have a greater understanding of how their tax dollars are being used.

“Employers picking up a portion of employee share of pensions is not an uncommon occurrence, but most people aren’t aware that it’s happening,” Tryon said.

“I think taxpayers have a right to know when their local units of government have negotiated agreements which have them paying for a portion of their employees’ share of pension costs.”

Tryon said he is hopeful the bill will be allowed to be debated on the House floor and that it will ultimately gain wide, bipartisan support.

Here’s the press release about the teachers’ contract which the Cary School Board ratified last night:

Cary Junior High and elementary school students will get a shorted school day after Thanksgiving.

District 26 Board Ratifies Teacher Contract
November 1, 2011

The Board of Education of Cary Community Consolidated School District 26 announced today that they have ratified a tentative agreement with the Cary Education Association (CEA) addressing all issues related to a new collective bargaining agreement.

The new three-year agreement calls for:

• Reduction in teacher compensation by 3% in the 2011-2012 school year and a pay freeze in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school years.  Teachers will be permitted to change lanes and “move horizontally” on the salary schedule by taking additional course work during the contract but will not receive automatic “step” or longevity increases.
• A change in the employee insurance program. Previously, the Board paid 100% of single coverage and between 20% and 50% of family coverage depending on a teacher’s years of service in the district. Under the new agreement, the Board will pay 50% of single coverage, and between 10% and 40% of family coverage depending upon a teacher’s experience in the district.
• The school day for students has been lengthened from 5 hours and 45 minutes last year to 6 hours and 15 minutes under this new agreement. Student instructional time will be increased by 30 minutes a day over last year’s amounts. The parties expect to transition to a new daily schedule corresponding to the change in the school day after the Thanksgiving holiday.
• The tuition reimbursement program under the previous collective bargaining agreement has been eliminated from the new contract.
• The retirement program under previous contract has been eliminated. Under previous agreements, eligible employees could receive up to four years of 6% increases in their last years of employment; up to $20,000 in lump sum payments following retirement; and up to $10 a day for unused sick leave.

At the start of this school year the Board had imposed contract terms for the 2011-2012 school year which provided for reductions in pay and in the insurance program greater than those agreed to as outlined above.

Through a series of meetings with a federal mediator after the start of the school year, however, the parties were able to reach agreement on all economic and language issues for a three-year contract.

The parties expect to finalize the contract language and execute an agreement as soon as possible.

Chris Spoerl, the Board President, said,

“These negotiations have taken a long time to complete — since November 2010 in fact – in large measure because of the very serious financial challenges faced by the district. These were not easy labor talks but the board is confident that the new agreement will help put the district on a more stable financial ground for the next three years.”

Here’s what’s on the web site:

The signed copy of the press release.

Joint Press Release Cary BOE and CEA
posted 5 hours ago by Caryil d26

The Board of Education of Cary Community Consolidated School District 26 and The Cary Education Association which represents the teachers announced tonight that they have reached a tentative agreement to resolve the significant financial issues between the parties and are optimistic that they can reach full agreement on all remaining issues.

The parties are set to meet next week in an effort to reach an agreement on all remaining issues.

The details of the tentative agreement will be made after the board of education and association members have ratified it.

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Again, I would point out that taxpayers should be able to read proposed contracts before they are ratified by thr elected representatives.  In my memory only Huntley School District 158 did so and that was for the contract before last.  That was when Larry Snow was on the school board.