Letters: Determine cost of government panels

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Superintendent Kathy Birkett, Indian Prairie School District 204

Updated: May 10, 2011 4:47AM

Determine cost of gov’t panels

In The Sun’s recap Wednesday of recent governmental “malfunctions” I was surprised to learn that the DuPage County Board appoints 240 group chairmen and members.

The financial irregularities of the Water Commission, DuPage National Technology Park and DuPage Housing Authority that have come to light in the past several years makes me wonder how many other such problems are out there waiting to come to light.

This coupled with the article on Naperville Township suggests that a study should be undertaken to determine the cost effectiveness of many of these entities. They appear to be overly generous in their salaries and perks, especially considering how little scrutiny is given to their activities.

Perhaps reducing their number would make it easier to monitor them. At the very least, an external auditor should be checking the books.

Jill Versace

Naperville

Services funding wastes money

There is an old joke here in Illinois that goes like this: “It is so cold out that I saw a Democrat with his hands in his own pockets!”

Well, Mr. Cullerton and Mr. Quinn are exploring a way to keep their hands in all of our pockets 24/7.

You go to work when you are 20 years old or so, and you try as often as you can to take some of your take home pay (that has already been taxed) and you attempt to put something away to supplement the meager Social Security benefits you are going to receive in order to try and get through retirement without too much worry and concern.

Now along comes Mr. Cullerton and Mr. Quinn, who cannot find a way to curb their spending. They do not care to look for ways to stop wasting money in this state. No, they simply say, “Sorry, what’s yours is now going to be ours.”

I do hope the continuing re-election of these people without regard to what they have perpetrated on the citizens in this state makes the electorate happy, especially when they see life savings going toward funding another ludicrous social program in Illinois.

Don Lass

Naperville

CDBG grants vital to Seguin Services

I read with interest the article, “Blocked grants?” (3/6/11) which explained the dire situation now confronting nonprofits in Illinois, including major cuts proposed for Community Development Block Grants.

I am president/CEO of Seguin Services, a social services agency serving 600 individuals with developmental disabilities in the greater Chicago area, including DuPage County.

Seguin has an annual capital budget of $750,000, of which CDBG funds are a major source of funding. The state does not reimburse agencies for capital needs as part of its funding for services.

In short, the $250,000 to $300,000 in CDBG funding that Seguin receives annually from various local governmental sources is crucial. These funds are used for major capital improvements to our 60 group homes where 220 very low-income people with developmental disabilities reside — and where Seguin provides services at less than half the cost for similar services at large state institutions.

These renovations address accessibility, safety and security, including bathroom renovations, fire sprinkler installation and ongoing needs associated with maintenance of older homes.

Without these funds, Seguin will be forced to choose between two equally poor options: to allow these homes to become dilapidated and unsafe for the residents, or to cut staff who provide direct care to our clientele. Either of these choices will endanger the safety and well-being of the people we serve.

Given these unwelcome options, we urge our elected officials to protect these citizens with disabilities, who are among society’s most vulnerable individuals, by preserving this vital CDBG funding.

John Voit

Naperville

President/CEO

Seguin Services

Cicero

Billionaires, firms want all the pie

We have billionaires and multinational corporations funding the message that American workers are the cause of our debt crises. If they can eliminate or weaken collective bargaining rights of workers, they will have full control to set the living wage for America’s middle class, improving their profit and wealth.

They want us to believe that our greed for a living wage and a modest pension is unsustainable. Billionaires and corporations have taken all but one slice of the pie and have turned to the middle class American and said, watch out for that teacher — she wants your slice of the pie.

Years ago, we deregulated Wall Street and gave big tax breaks to the ultra wealthy in the hopes that it would spur investment that would raise everybody’s standard of living.

In 1988, the average American taxpayer earned $33,400, adjusted for inflation. In 2008, 20 years later, the average income was just $33,000, according to IRS data. Meanwhile, the richest 1 percent of Americans saw their incomes grow 33 percent over those same 20 years.

As for America’s poor over the last 20 years, America has had the highest or nearly highest poverty rates for individual adults, families and children among 31 developed countries (Luxembourg Income Study).

How did the deregulation of Wall Street go? Wall Street had to beg us taxpayers to bail them out of the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression that, in fact, they created.

We provided the social welfare to save Wall Street including paying for contracted bonuses. These wealthy individuals and corporations that we bailed out have returned to record profits and bonuses. Now they want more sacrifice from America’s middle class.

The Wisconsin battle is all about taking away the rights of workers to collectively bargain for work conditions and fair compensation. The employees have agreed to the request for monetary concessions ($30 million) from the governor and are peacefully protesting for their right to collectively speak and negotiate.

If the governor was concerned only about the budget, why did he give $140 million in tax breaks to corporations before asking state employees for concessions in wages and benefits?

A couple interesting facts from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue are that two-thirds of corporations in the state pay no taxes, and the share of corporate tax revenue funding state operations has fallen by half since 1981.

Wisconsin public workers’ wages are not excessive by any means. In fact, numerous studies indicate that public workers, including those in Wisconsin, make about 5 percent less than private sector workers when you control for education. In Wisconsin, more than 60 percent of state workers have at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with just more than 20 percent in the private sector, according to census data.

In Wisconsin, the state pension fund is one of only four state funds considered fully funded by the Pew Organization. Wisconsin’s average public sector pension is $24,000, and if that seems high, it is because there are rarely private sector pensions.

Also note, public employees participating in pensions plans like Wisconsin’s are ineligible for Social Security. In the private sector, we have a program, the 401(k) that was designed to allow higher compensated executives to shelter earnings from taxes. To cut costs and allow greater profits for corporations, the 401(k) was adapted to replace pensions for average workers. How is that working? Half of us Americans will fail to generate enough post-retirement income to maintain our pre-retirement standard of living.

How about everybody paying their fair share? We should eliminate the outrageous tax loophole that allows wealthy fund managers at private equity firms and other investment partnerships to pay a top tax rate of just 15 percent on their earnings versus a top rate of 35 percent. Closing the loophole would raise an estimated $25 billion over 10 years.

We should create a fair tax code for individuals that does not have Warren Buffett’s secretary paying a higher tax rate than him. We should eliminate the $36.5 billion a year in subsidies for the extremely profitable oil and gas industry.

We should end all corporate welfare for billions more in savings. Then let’s have corporations pay a lower fair tax rate and end the “off-shoring” and “transferring” tax loopholes that allow multinational corporations to pay zero taxes.

Then we won’t have to target our friends, families and neighbors for making a living wage and having a modest pension.

Joe Foley

Naperville