“Every Dime. Online. In Real Time.” Adam Andrzejewski, March 1, 2009
Until now, Illinois government has been a black hole. For example, Citizens can’t easily review the entire employment rolls of their local government, which account for 70% of costs.
Even worse, Springfield is constricting your access to information. Recently, they restricted Freedom of Information Requests and clamped down on citizen testimony at public hearings.
Starting this week, we began the ramp-up to our launch on September 12. Each day, we challenge you to answer basic questions regarding Illinois government. Here are the first three challenges… with the answers.
Challenge Day 1- The Legendary Illinois Public Employment Rolls.
Across all units of Illinois government (from the local to state), what
is the total number of people who received a paycheck or a pension check in
2010?
(Answer: Number of active government employees in
2010: 635,715. Number of government employees who retired in years 2000-
present: more than 260,000. Grand total of active and retired employees will
exceed 900,000.)
Challenge Day 2- Be Part of the Transparency Revolution.
4,789 educators retired in 2010. How much money during their working
careers did they pay into the pension system? In their first year, how much were
they paid out?
(Answer: Collectively, educators paid $439
million into pension system during employment. First year annual pension: $222
million. Time to return invested basis: less than 24 months.)
Challenge Day 3- A Peek Behind the Curtain. Regarding the
8,000 state work comp claims filed since 2007, how much money has already been
paid out? Amongst the workers comp arbitrators, what percentage of them filed
their own claims?
(Answer: $130 million paid out
with hundreds of lines still to be determined. 25% of arbitrators have filed
their own claim.)
From http://forthegoodofillinois.org/blog/2011/09/illinois-billionaire-bureaucrat-club-q-a/
Illinois’ Billionaire Bureaucrat Club- Q & A
“This isn’t a red issue or a blue issue… only green.”
Last year across all units of Illinois government (local to state), 3062 public employees out-earned the governor. Collectively, their total compensation is nearly $1 billion.
Do you want to join this exclusive club of government employees? My advice is to become a local school administrator, village manager, judge, college professor or a government doctor.
This year, another 1,082 government employees with 2010 salaries between $160,000 and $170,000 stand waiting to join the club. It’s a bull market for insiders.
But, taxpayers don’t owe government employees a wealthy living… just a reasonable living.
Our promise to you is “Open the Books.” On Tuesday, September 13th, the books will be open. We will fundamentally change the way the public sees government. It will be a milestone in government reform launched by a thousand mouse clicks across Illinois.
Starting last week, we began the ramp-up to our launch. Each day, we challenged you to answer basic questions regarding Illinois government. For last week’s challenges and answers, click here.
This week’s challenges and answers are below…
Challenge Day 4- Inside Access to State
Pensions.
Union leadership, lobbyists, associations, and non-profits
(non-governmental tax spending advocates) have gained access to our State level
pension systems for local governments and teachers. Who are these
groups?
Answer: The second largest pension in Illinois
teacher retirement history ($20,200 a month) was calculated not off earnings as
an elementary school teacher in Harvey, but off of earnings as President of the
National Education Association (NEA) in Washington DC. Three of the top six
largest pensions in municipal retirement fund history went to employees of these
non-governmental entities: Illinois Municipal League ($15,076 per month), Park
District Risk Management Association ($20,125 per month), Illinois Association
of Park Districts ($18,436 per month). All participated in salary spiking to
maximize their employee pension.
Challenge Day 5- Nerds that glitter- School
treasurers out-earning state treasurer.
Some school district
treasurers are making up to 161% more in salary than the state treasurer (Bloom
Township, $208,834; Bremen Township, $189,323; Worth Township, $168,611;
Calumet/Thornton Townships $192,226). One monthly pension was 131% higher than
the salary of the current state treasurer (Worth Township, $14,257)!
What industry associations are rewarding such behavior?
Answer:
The Bloom Township treasurer just won the Monarch Award given by the
Illinois Association of School Business Officials for excellence in his
profession. Quite evidentially, frugality wasn’t a criteria as the Bloom
Township 206 superintendent has a salary of $307,471.
Challenge Day 6- Making Hay- the upper end of public
service.
From the local units on up to state government, how many
public employees have a salary greater than the governor? Where do they
work?
Answer: 3062 employees out-earn the governor on base
salary. Their total compensation exceeds $1 billion. The job categories most
represented are local school administrators, county and village managers (500),
judges (600), college/university professors (1350) and government doctors (600).
Stay tuned. Be a part of the transparency revolution!
On September 13th, We open the books.
Adam Andrzejewski
For The Good of Illinois | CEO
September 8, 2011
