By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner’s claims to now be protecting the taxpayers of Bloomington in the Metro Zone flap are a joke. Why? Besides the fact that 5 Aldermen put Metro Zone on the agenda, not Renner – what happened to the letters Tari received at Rosie’s from citizens about their health insurance costs? We […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was looking for something else when I came across this again on my computer: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/ct-municipal-pension-padding-met-20150816-story.html The story is from August 2015. It is where we found out for the FIRST time that City employees were allowed to spike their pensions, and then taxpayers had to make additional payments to IMRF (the […]
By: Diane Benjamin I few days ago I posted how much citizens of Bloomington have been forced to pay because City employees are allowed to spike pensions: https://blnnews.com/2016/08/20/proof-the-council-is-immaterial/ Only $1,597,264.60! That’s money that could have been spent for the benefit of citizens, instead of employees. When I did a FOIA request for Bloomington, I included […]
By: Diane Benjamin Oh, I forgot the Pantagraph doesn’t do investigative reporting. Printing ridiculous statements from Tari Renner and David Hales is better? For who? Your bottom line? The story today proves the Pantagraph is the last place to get news! David Hales claims to have investigated the accelerated payments problem for Sick Leave Buy […]
By: Diane Benjamin The below are from a big pile of information I received from IMRF under the Freedom of Information Act. They all pertain to pensions spiking that David Hales allowed to keep happening and is still allowed today. Remember this when your taxes get raised Monday! I may be posting more, I haven’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Another taxpayer asked IMRF for information about the City of Bloomington’s policy allowing pensions spiking. Remember this cost you more than $1.2 MILLION dollars. See the email below FROM IMRF. The RED and BLUE are from me. From: John Krupa <jkrupa@imrf.org> To: (redacted) Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2015 10:53 AM Subject: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just to make this perfectly clear: David Hales could have avoided spending $1.2 Million + JUST by changing when employees got their accumulated sick days pay. If they had been paid the day they left City employment, their pensions would not have been spiked and therefore IMRF would NOT have sent them […]
By: Diane Benjamin I emailed with the reporter of the Chicago Tribune story today. Without him, you never would have known the City was allowing you to be ripped off. Joe Mahr gave me a little more history of spiking. The law disallowing employees to spike their salary in the final 3 months of employment […]
By: Diane Benjamin The fine for Emily Bell spiking her pension was assessed against the City of Bloomington in DECEMBER 2014. It wasn’t paid until 4/30/15 – and congrats taxpayers, interest of $1636.99 was added to the tab. Total paid was $360,031.11! All payments in excess of $50,000 are supposed to be approved by the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Probably knowing he was getting the blame, David Hales called into WJBC this morning to discuss the sick leave payouts. He claimed that except for Police and Fire. all new employees don’t get that benefit anymore. He blamed past Councils for not taking action. I guess he still hasn’t figured out the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Renner was on WJBC yesterday with Scott Laughlin. You don’t need to listen to the whole discussion, just the last 30 seconds. http://cdn.stationcaster.com/stations/wjbc/media/mpeg/Mayor_Tari_Renner-1439933912.mp3 The topic was the fine paid by Bloomington taxpayers when Emily Bell spiked her pension with accumulated sick days. Renner and the Council were “shocked” according to Tari when […]
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 […]
