By: Diane Benjamin
See this post from yesterday: http://blnnews.com/2015/08/26/imrf-what-did-hales-know-and-when/
David Hales could have stopped this insanity in 2012. $1,216,177.70 of Bloomington taxpayer dollars would not have disappeared if employees and David Hales had any ethics. All that needed to be done is this: Employees get their accumulated sick leave pay THE DAY THEY LEAVE CITY EMPLOYMENT, NOT MONTHS BEFORE!
Here is how Hales allowed these employees to boost their pensions and cost you money:
Pensions paid through the IMRF fund (Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund) are calculated based on the 4 highest year salaries. Employees retire with 55% of that average. Bloomington allows employees to accumulate sick days, it used to be up to 1800 hours (not sure if it still is, but Hales reported new employees no longer get this). Before the law changed in 2012, employees would be paid a lump sum when they retired which boosted their 4-year average pay and thus their pension.
The change to the law is that any increase in salary in the final 3 months of employment CAN NOT boost a pension. Here’s where the unethical behavior and the conspiracy by City employees comes in.
The employees listed on yesterday’s post took the money early – more than 3 months before they retired. If they had been paid the day they left, their pension would not have increased. They still would have received the payout, but they wouldn’t have profited from it the rest of their lives and taxpayers wouldn’t have been fleeced!
Bloomington was forced to pay IMRF $1,216,177.70 because contributions to the pension fund from the employees and the City for the entire time each worked didn’t cover the future expense.
All David Hales had to say in 2012 is employees get paid when they LEAVE, not months before. The discussion last Monday night was nothing but CYA by Hales. He talked about possibly being sued if the payout for existing employees was ended. He claimed a meeting was held with employees and they are now upset. Dah David. It’s a perk nobody in the private sector gets, but City employees want their money. Continue to raid the City treasury because the City didn’t change the policy years ago, just change when they get paid.
Call a special Council meeting TODAY. Change the payout policy to checks are issued the day you retire. Instantly NO MORE FINES. The change needs to be made NOW to prevent more abuse of taxpayers.
Next, fire David Hales for obvious incompetence and lying. Amelia Buragas played CYA for David Monday night. Learn anything Amelia?
Outraged yet?
Attorney Jeff Jurgens reported Monday that another 220 employees could be eligible for this benefit in the future. How many will retire tomorrow and cost you another million?
Wow, such a sweet deal! The state stopped the nonsense of allowing payment for unused sick days except for days earned prior to the change. However, the payment was never made prior to the actual last paycheck. While this accumulated sick leave could be used to determine years of service it did not allow for increased pensions. I guess I should have been working for Bloomington and not a state university.
Licensed to steal.
WOW! And here there HARD WORKING folks pay for retired CITY workers AND the incompetent MANAGER/MAYOR and council. Time to call Merry Maids. Bet they could use some extra $$$, and probably do a GOOD job! Hard to believe THAT kind of management? is PAID $200K a year-my father NEVER made that as a manager at a chemical facility, never mind that it was dangerous.
Hales is behaving like the boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar–lying and blaming others. There is NO proof for Hales’ defense on this. I don’t think Alderwoman Burages was covering for Hales. I think she doesn’t understand what is going on and why the city was penalized. There is a lot of “blind faith” in the Staff by the Council. No one seems to do any research or ask intelligent questions. Council members have transformed from plants to parrots.
Your probably right about Buragas, yet it sure looked like she was covering for Hales. Logically you would think Hales or Renner would have talked to the council members before the meeting since the Tribune story had high visibility.
Had the policy been changed the city wouldn’t have had to pay what it did is the issue and not whether or not they would have had to pay it now or later on. That’s what Buragas doesn’t grasp. There wouldn’t have been a payment due to the IMRF at all had the policy been changed. Buragas smoothed it over as we would have had to pay it anyhow. Maybe someone needs to scream in her face, “no, you just don’t get it, here let me draw you a picture.”
Maybe you’re right. Ms. Lawyer Buragas was defending Hales.