Bill Zettler

“If 50 people say you’re drunk you probably ought to lie down.”  – Jim Rockford, Rockford Files The discussions going on in Springfield regarding pension reform still have not addressed the key concern: taxpayers…

 1. Taxpayers have contributed more, not less, than the 1995 Fifty year pension funding law required. Most people are familiar with the 1995 pension funding law that set up a schedule of payments that would…

An unending cascade of misinformation continues to come out of Springfield, union headquarters and the media so let me say it loud and clear:   We Taxpayers Have OVERPAID Into Pensions Not UNDERPAID.  Let’s…

And $95,000 more than WI and $92,000 more than IA and $83,000 more than MO? Or to put it another way why is IL top teacher salary more than twice as much as Kentucky’s…

Recently a man named Mike Fanella wrote a letter to the Daily Herald newspaper calling Illinois’ proposed pension reform plan “brash” and that public employees were being “victimized” and “steamrolled” by media and politicians….

There is perhaps no more frustrating action against the public than teachers’ strikes. While teachers have the advantage of being home with their kids every day after school, school holidays, and summer vacations and…

Once again when we compare compensation of IL K-12 educators with other states we find an enormous gap.  Just looking at IL vs. WI we see a $164,000 premium for IL top administrator salary…

As Illinoiscitizens struggle with the severe economic downturn plaguing the state, Illinois public school employees enjoy another record year of salaries, fringe benefits and pensions.  In 2011 an amazing 14,866 public school employees made…

In my last article (see here), I documented how more than 130 benefit increases for the TRS (Teachers Retirement System) have been passed by the legislature since the “Pension Guarantee” amendment to the constitution…

It is interesting to note that with all of the clamor and posturing by various union and political types about the “sacredness” of the Constitutional Pension guarantee, no one has taken the time to…

11 Amazing Facts About Illinois State Pensions: 1. Based upon current rules more than 25,000 public employees will have $100K plus pensions by 2020. 2. Every one of these public “Servants” is a taxpayer…

Last Name Annual Pension Pension Paid Out to Date Das Gupta 414,471 2,790,107 SURS Abraham 402,630 1,773,973 SURS Barmada 386,334 4,430,947 SURS Mafee 359,360 1,766,637 SURS Abcarian 328,865 929,095 SURS Albrecht 327,623 1,395,697 SURS…

Retiree Name Annual Pension Total Pension Paid out to date Total Contributions BERMAN, ARTHUR 203,428 1,751,569 109,293 PETKA, EDWARD 161,280 291,434 171,449 ERWIN, JUDITH 141,476 171,140 238,038 FRIEDLAND, JOHN 140,649 1,993,957 66,716 EDGAR, JAMES…