Tax payer group says pensions generate millions

Jim Tobin of the National Taxpayers United of Illinois, stopped in Bloomington Wednesday morning.

A taxpayer watch dog group is eying pension funds as Governor Quinn is pushing for an income tax increase in the closing days of the lame duck session.

The President of the National Taxpayers United of Illinois stopped in Bloomington Wednesday morning to discuss the results of a new pension study.

Jim Tobin also released the amount of money statewide and local government workers receive from pensions. He says the largest pension in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund goes to former Bloomington City Manager Tom Hamilton, at $113,000 a year.

“That’s $9,424 a month for Thomas Hamilton in pension, every month paid for by your McLean County property taxes,” said Tobin.

Tobin says concerns about the current pension system is not a partisan issue. He says Republican Comptroller-Elect Judy Barr Topinka’s pension was more than $140,000 a year. He adds former Democrat State Senator Dawn Clark Netsch gets $121,000 a year.

He says ending pensions for all new government hires will help eliminate underfunded government pensions, which have been a hot button issue in Springfield.