News that a 55-year-old former Illinois high school principal collecting an annual $122,142 pension is now earning $125,000 as a principal at an out-of-state high school illustrates how public pension excesses are bankrupting the state, says Mark Glennon, founder of the fiscal watchdog group, Wirepoints.
“Look no further than this case to understand why Illinois taxpayers vomit as they watch their money flushed down the toilet,” Glennon told North Cook News. “Pensions should be for retirees, and we simply can’t afford to pay any pensions to people who aren’t at retirement age, let alone obscene pensions like this.”
Former Maine West High School Principal Audrey Haugan worked over 33 years in the public school system, saving $358,381 in the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement Fund, records show. She retired from the job in 2018 -- receiving pay for unused vacation time which allowed her to retire early.
Audrey Haugan
Her entire invested amount will be returned to her just three years after she began collecting her annual pension, an earlier analysis by North Cook News showed.
When she reaches 65, Haugan's annual retirement benefit is projected to be $164,149, or more than she ever earned as a teacher, or in her 13 years as the principal of West Maine.
Last August, Journal & Topics reported Haugan took a job as principal of Redmond High School in Redmond, Oregon at a starting salary of $125,000 a year.
Glennon said that excessive pension costs are what’s behind Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s push for a progressive income tax, which is being sold as a fairer tax over a flat one because it slaps a higher percentage of tax on higher incomes. But Wirepoints and others have reported that the tax will end up costing middle class and younger workers more as well.
Glennon called the progressive tax “intergenerational theft at its worst.”
The question of whether to switch from the flat tax, now at 4.95 percent, to the progressive one will go before the voters in November.
Illinois is “the nation’s extreme outlier when it comes to pension shortfalls,” Wirepoints reported back in September.
Looking at just pension debt, Illinois has a $241 billion shortfall, down from $250 billion in 2017, in its five state-run pension funds, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Illinois’ pension shortfall not only dwarfs those of notorious New Jersey ($113 billion), but also those of far bigger states California ($231 billion) and Texas ($133 billion) and those of its neighbors. Iowa has just a $5 billion shortfall, Wisconsin, only $11 billion.
What’s more, Illinois has no money set aside for the health care benefits of retirees.
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