Bill Zettler has a new article posted titled, “10 Things You Probably Don’t Know About IL State Pensions.” Here are the 10 – follow the link at the bottom to read the entire article:
1. Taxpayers have contributed more, not less, than the 1995 Fifty year pension funding law required.
2. Since 2001 taxpayers have contributed 230% more than teachers to the Teachers Retirement System.
3. Less than 1% of state retirees worked 40 years.
4. The supposedly “modest” average state pensions are worth 4 times Social Security.
5. State retirees have used more than 132,000 years of sick-leave credit to receive extra pension without actually having to work for it.
6. Over 44,000 retirees have annual pensions greater than their total contributions over their entire career.
7. The reason TRS pension liability is so high is because teachers are vastly overpaid compared to adjoining states.
8. If IL teachers had the same salary and pension schedule as Wisconsin we would save more than $4 billion/yr. enough to make the annual pension payment.
9. If the pension rules in effect in 1970 when the “Pension Guarantee” was added to the state constitution were still in effect there would be no unfunded pension liability.
10. Teachers’ unions have given IL politicians of both parties more than $50 million in contributions since 1995.
