There’s nothing like the state of Illinois when it comes to allowing a private entity to control public funds.
And yet, that is what’s going on across all the counties and municipalities in the state…and it’s breaking our financial backs.
Apparently no one foresaw the crisis that a pyramid scheme the likes of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) was leading to…although pretty much everyone in the state is painfully aware of it at this point, with increasing property taxes and ongoing offsets such as Public Safety Taxes (which doesn’t help in any way, as PSTs are for funding aspects of public safety—jail, fire, ambulance—and merely relieve the counties of the draw off the General Fund, out of which sheriff’s department salaries and the like are funded…and then the other officeholders in the county simply ‘have more money in the General Fund’ from which to draw). And now, drastic measures are being taken to rectify it…but it may be too little, too late.
Dealing with this ongoing issue is the Saline County Board, which meets again tomorrow night…therefore, we’re going to bring you the big coverage of what happened at the July County Board meeting, wherein this explosive subject very nearly got out of hand. Here now is your noontime Read the Lead, Questions arise over board members being removed from IMRF without their knowledge:
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Danny Gibbs speaking about the looming financial crisis at a Saline County Board meeting.
SALINE CO.— In the ever-increasingly confusing discussion over which county officials, present and past, are and are not eligible to participate in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF), some Saline County board members voiced concerns over noticing deductions for IMRF are no longer being taken out of their checks.
“Have we been removed without being told?” asked one board member during a rather heating meeting July 24.
Third strike
Saline County Clerk Kim Buchanan again presented to the board resolution R14-07, Termination of Participation by Elected County Officials in the IMRF Fund.
This marked the third consecutive month that Buchanan had placed this resolution on the agenda as an action item.
The first time the resolution was presented, the board agreed that they did not know enough of the legalities of the matter to vote on the resolution, and it was tabled.
The second time the resolution was presented to the board was during the June 26 meeting, and after even more questions were raised that couldn’t be answered, the board voted to table the resolution indefinitely; that is, until all of their questions had been sufficiently answered, and they were equipped to make an informed decision.
The old adage “third time’s a charm” didn’t apply, as board members had been given no clear answers by the time the July meeting came around, thus were not better informed and actually had added to their host of questions since the last run at the proposed resolution.
To be disqualified; or, show hours worked
Buchanan opened by saying she had met with Saline County’s IMRF Rep. Christine Fine, who had again told her the resolution was only the starting point, and that in order to become compliant with the law, the board must pass it.
According to Buchanan, Fine had outlined that all county officials must be disqualified from being IMRF eligible, or they must provide documentation of time sheets or other forms of proof of time served each…..
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