By: Diane Benjamin
Previous stories:
2/26/24: https://blnnews.com/2024/02/26/guess-who-is-still-spiking-pensions/
1/28/21: https://blnnews.com/2021/01/28/how-much-was-wasted-allowing-employees-to-spike-pensions/
10/19/17: https://blnnews.com/2017/10/19/blatant-taxpayer-abuse/
I sent a FOIA request to IMRF on April 28, 2025 after receiving a tip. Normally IMRF is very prompt, this time they weren’t. I even sent a Past Due notice to them on May 8, 2025 and got no response. I received the FOIA yesterday after filing with the Attorney General. IMRF included this reason for not responding:
I also want to apologize for the delay in notifying you of the response. As you may likely have noticed, we recently changed our FOIA portal system and I didn’t realize I wasn’t properly setting the completion notification. So, I was uploading the file for your access, but not letting you know it was there with the link for accessing it.
Interesting since I checked the portal before filing with Public Access and no files had been uploaded. Today I will get a letter from the AG stating everything is fine now, government never has penalties for failure to follow the law. (see Cody Hendricks, Jenna Kearns, and Abby Scott. https://blnnews.com/2025/05/30/breaking-city-code-the-king-and-queens-of-bloomington/)
Below are the most recent pension spikes, I added their titles as listed on the Total Compensation reports.
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The total is $105,005.79. All of these people are collecting higher pensions because spiking by some is still allowed. Most taxpayers never see large pensions or any pension, you are just forced to pay for them.
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…and state legislators are padding their own pockets by voting for the new budget that gives them at least a $1000+ bump for “COLA”
$7000 salary increase too
I retired, May 24, 2024, with partial IMRF pension. I turned in all needed retirement documents on May 24, 2024. I spent 11 months, calling, messaging, and even traveling to Oak Brook to get my pension check(s). It took me asking a politician’s intervention to finally get my first pension check on May, 27, 2025. Which wasn’t the correct amount…by a lot. IMRF dismissed my petition for the correct amount until, again, I requested the politician to intervene.
Similar situation and mis-information, mis calculation and lack of service, fee and investment transparency- seems like a Benefits/partnership “Total Rewards” wide spread HR and servicing/vendor mgt issue to me. My data has been used/abused in many ways locally and on projects and there has been nothing but push back and I know my data is wrong (the whole thing handled poorly and incorrectly) so glad its not just us that has been forced into stress, financial loss and lost time and patience 🙂
So much data and system and benefit handling aension in abuse in Central Illinois and Pension Risk Transfers (forcing ex employee into terrible servicing and Retirement Annuities) without transparency is aother big issue locally with most organizations and execs /agendas/ on risk Mgt
It’s really bad and some orga are sueing but since the legal pay to play partnerships have already been trained to trust HR and organizations over citizens, policyholders and employees- no recourse
Correction- SO much data and system and benefit handling pension in abuse in Central Illinois and Pension Risk Transfers (forcing ex-employees/retirees into terrible servicing, no real options, undisclosed fees/investment options and terrible undisclosed monthly “Retirement Annuities”- which are BAD) without transparency. This is another big issue locally with most “public/private” partnerships and organizations and execs /agendas/ on risk Mgt
It’s really bad and some orgs/retirees are having to file lawsuits but since the legal pay to play partnerships have already been trained to trust HR and organizations over citizens, policyholders and employees- no recourse
Its Christmas in the Compensation Models for Political class and Public Servants prepping for retirement while private retirees and taxpayers get exploited and the shaft.
Something is seriously wrong with Central Illinois and its no fault of taxpayers or employees. The “Total Rewards” benefit mgt and data partnerships are part of the bigger issue locally.
All of this causing good hardworking people and businesses to move out of ILLannoys resulting in no one left to pay the bills. Just like social security one of these days these pensioners are going to be told that the fund is broke and, poof,,,it’s all gone.
Meanwhile residents on Medicaid have skyrocketed
I’m confused what this means. What do these figures represent? What was the pay for? Overtime??
Pay for accumulation of sick days that added to their final salary. The payments are a penalty from the pension manager to cover the higher pension being paid.
City could have avoided these by paying sick days after each retired
So. Because the employee saved their PTO, Vacation, etc the city wouldn’t write them a check for it? Seriously? Then the retirement system penalizes the municipalities versus simply applying a simple option such as a bonus to:
cash out-Payoff that retirement debt
Days reduced-leave earlier (Money isn’t everything)
Use them or Lose them- if you exceed (X) amount. Military let us bank our leave time, I believe 45 days, in a 365 day period before the days would begin to roll off.
Or example: Early buyout option comes down for a “downsize”. 16-18 year employees. HR multiplies their vacation, PTO, Sick, flex (whatever) to get them to 20 years of vested time and offers them a full retirement package to reduce payroll costs versus layoffs and firings at the high end of the salary scale. Win/win. Except for losing all the experience and wisdom.
If the “retirement agency” is so asinine and as reported in the online comments, unfriendly, force Illinois to find one that isn’t. Lots of others that are easy and friendly for small to enourmas organizations that are phenomenal. Especially if the employees and taxpayers are both getting the shaft. Sounds like the winner is the pension management company (good ole boy is buddies with someone that chose it, Guaranteed!)