Oak Lawn Trustees Vote To Give Up Pensions for Part-Time Elected Officials

With the specter of former village board members still hanging over the new administration, Oak Lawn trustees adopted a new policy terminating elected officials’ participation in a state pension program.

The  Oak Lawn Village Board voted 4 to 2 to opt out of participating in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund for elected officials during Tuesday’s village board meeting.

“[Pensions aren't] necessary,” Trustee Mike Carberry (Dist. 6) said. “We should serve, and when we’re done serving Oak Lawn should be done paying.”

Trustees earn an annual salary of $8,200 unless they participate in the village's health insurance program, in which case, they are paid $1,000 less.

The resolution not to collect public pensions takes effect immediately and only affects future village board members and not those serving prior to the April 9 municipal election. The resolution is irrevocable unless state laws change, an official from the municipal retirement fund said.

Carberry said he’s seen too many abuses of the state’s troubled pension system, where career politicians leave office to take full-time government jobs for a few years before retiring, collecting pensions based on the higher salaries.

“It’s totally unfair to the people who have worked hard and paid into a pension for all those years,” Carberry said. “The reward should be in the service. As far as compensation goes, I really don’t think part-time politicians should be getting any kind of pension.”

Trustee Bob Streit (Dist. 3), the village board’s longest-serving trustee at 22 years, said the pension benefit to a trustee averaged around $10 per month for each year of service. Elected officials and village each contribute about 4.6 percent of the trustee’s salary.

Further, he stated, reading from prepared remarks, most elected officials don’t serve beyond required eight years to collect a pension.

“It may sound good talking about pension prices and how we’re going to eliminate them for elected officials,” Streit said. “I think you have to know the real facts about it.”

To be eligible for the state's municipal pension fund, part-time elected officials are required to work 1,000 hours per year.

“That’s less than 20 hours per week,” Streit said. “Anyone approving this measure is stating that to the people of the Oak Lawn that they don’t intend to work 20 hours a week.”

“I’m sure that is an interesting fact that the people in your district wish they knew before they voted in the last election,” he added.

Mayor Sandra Bury gaveled Streit down for "personal attacks," when he  suggested that Carberry give up his Cook County pension. The trustee also brought up Carberry’s eight months as an Illinois state representative, voting for the largest state income tax increase in Illinois history.

“Let him finish,” Carberry said of Streit. “He’s doing a good job. He’s a class act.”

Streit also pointed out how fellow Dist. 2 Trustee Alex Olejniczak recently joined the village’s health insurance program after losing his job earlier this year.

Olejniczak, Streit said, has in the past called for the village to stop letting elected officials participate in the insurance program.

“This is a personal attack,” Bury said.

“It’s just facts,” Streit responded.

“Let the curmudgeon continue,” Olejniczak said. “I think it’s interesting that somebody could be as low life as this man.”

Health insurance benefits for Olejniczak, who is married and has four children, would be far more costly to taxpayers than the $6.23 that the village contributes every month to trustees’ pension funds.

“If these trustees were really serious about saving taxpayers’ month they should stop being so hypocritical and stop talking out both sides of their mouths,” Streit said. “This resolution obviously is more political than necessary.”

Olejniczak said he lost his job earlier in the year when his company went out of business because of a poor economy. He planned to give up the village insurance for his family as soon as he finds another job.

Streit and Trustee Carol Quinlan (Dist. 5) cast the dissenting votes. Quinlan said that the trustee’s job “was a lot more than part-time.” She also expressed concerns of the board speaking for future elected officials by terminating their state pensions because the resolution was irrevocable.