By: Diane Benjamin
Previously I wrote about local school districts throwing away your money in penalties because some employees were paid more than allowed before they retired – thus spiking their pensions. http://blnnews.com/2015/05/24/unit-5-and-district-87-burn-your-money/
The City of Bloomington is doing the same thing! Their policy of allowing employees to accumulate sick days and getting paid for them at retirement is costing you much more than higher pensions: Chicago Tribune! Local media would never find this story, luckily Chicago still has a semblance of media.
Here’s the link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/ct-municipal-pension-padding-met-20150816-story.html
Bloomington is covered at the end of the article.
Just Emily Bell’s (HR) retirement cost you $358,000 when her pension was boosted from $92,000 to $113,000.
15 other retirees cost the city another $1,000,000.
Hales is quoted saying he was new on the job and it was “operational failure”. He also claims it is now a priority to fix the problem. Hales has been City Manager since early 2009, why rush Dave?
Hales and the Council have known for YEARS what the consequences of accumulating sick days is. Hales has done nothing about it, just like Tom Hamilton before him.
Keep this in mind when your taxes are raised in September and Hales gets another fat raise.
Hales, Renner, and crew will bankrupt this town. Hope I’m wrong but I don’t think so.
He’s too busy finding ways to spend money to waste time trying to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars. Just blame the other guy.
David Hales should be terminated, fired, or what ever you call it. What a glorious excuse if I’ve ever heard one such as this. This one tops them all.
I saw the article in the Tribune this morning and didn’t pay too much attention thinking this only happened on a huge scale in the Chicago area the crime center of the midwest. When I read the $1M figure for Bloomington I about wet my pants. Are the tax payers getting screwed here or what?
What good is the law if it has no consequences other than sticking it to the taxpayers?
Ms. Bell should be indicted on criminal charges if she could be. She knew about the law and violated it. It was her job duty to know. Possibly David Hales too if he signed off on it which he probably did. The head nodding city council approved it which I wouldn’t expect them to know all laws. They approved it likely under deception. It would be interesting to know if this was withheld from them.
This excuse of being new on the job is such a farce. The law the Tribune talks about is from 2012 and Hales just exactly didn’t start in 2012 but rather 2009. Where exactly has this man been at? Sitting on the throne in the restroom?
The item was probably placed on the Consent Agenda…”Routine Business.”
Does Hales have any say In this matter or is it all protected by union contracts?
Bell wasn’t Union. Nobody has the guts to cut employees off.