D99 Pension-Spiking Benefits to Change

Benefits for non-administrative employees were approved at the board meeting monday night, but missing from those benefits were pension-spiking raises for those who won't reach the qualifications by June 1, 2012.

Long-time employees for D99 who are not educators—including admin staff and maintenance—had been eligible to receive back-to-back 20 percent raises when nearing retirement, effectively boosting their pension amounts by increasing their final pay.

However, legislation passed by Gov. Pat Quinn this summer aims to curb that practice by imposing financial penalties on districts continuing the practice with new employees in which the end-of-career raises exceed six percent, forcing D99 to decide how and if to continue offering the benefit. And, according to the benefit summary document, only those retiring by June 1, 2012, will receive the perk.

Pat Roth, a CMG maintenance mechanic for D99, spoke during Monday's meeting, citing his frustration with the potential change to benefits.

“We were given this, promised this, in the beginning as one of our benefits, and now at the last minute it's being taken away,” Roth said. “It's a tough pill to swallow.”

An even tougher pill for Roth to swallow was the knowledge that a small-group of employees—roughly six or seven—would miss the cut-off date to qualify for the perk by about eight months.

“At the very least I would think you should be able to pull this group in and do something [to get them included],” he said.

The benefits as presented were passed unanimously.