* The Illinois State Police is offering a significant pension sweetener to entice some senior officers into retirement. From an internal memo…
TO: ALL SWORN OFFICERS
DATE: DECEMBER 1, 2010
The Illinois State Police (ISP) has been granted the authority to offer a severance package, effective immediately, to any sworn officer retiring on or before December 31, 2010.
The retiring officer will receive the 6 percent cost of living raises, currently scheduled for the 2011 calendar year, on their last day of work.
In order to qualify for the severance package, the officer must be a minimum of fifty (50) years of age with twenty-five (25) years of service or fifty-five (55) years of age with twenty (20) years of service.
The officer may use accumulated time in order to satisfy the years of service requirement.
Jonathon E. Monken
ACTING DIRECTOR
That’s a nice little bump.
* From the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget…
Higher salaried Illinois State Police Officers are being offered the retirement severance package which was approved by the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget to reduce payroll costs to the state.
The severance package is not being offered to any other state agency.
Illinois State Police estimate 70-90 sworn officers will retire under this incentive.
There are currently 1,980 sworn officers at ISP.
The savings to ISP is dependent upon the level of participation and the salary level of those who chose to participate.
Once again, we’re moving high salaries into the pension fund to “save” money in the short-term. At least this is limited to just the State Police - for now.
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- Ahoy - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 3:49 pm:
So what’s the real savings in the short term vs the long term costs? Or is anyone looking at that?
- Rich Miller - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 3:56 pm:
Off the cuff, Ahoy, I’m betting maybe close to a half mil ISP savings for next FY. Not sure what the pension cost would be, however.
- Excessively Rabid - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 4:00 pm:
In addition to the issues you cite, this also highlights the problem with pensions being based on terminal salaries (I assume that’s the point of the 6% increase) rather than on what the person actually earned, and what the employee and the agency made pension contributions on. It needs to be based on the employee’s high three or high five years.
- cassandra - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 4:10 pm:
If I remember correctly, at the end of the Ryan administration, there was a large multi-agency early retirement plan which ended up costing much more than originally projected.
If the state is seeking to reduce its managerial ranks (which it should be doing, it’s the 21st century, technology is reducing the need for midlevel bureacrats ) this is an alternative which could reduce or eliminate forced layoffs, and not just at the ISP.
And yet, given the expense of the Ryan early retirement plan and the general fiscal condition of state pensions, is this wise. What is the ISP trying to accomplish, exactly. Hopefully, not
to free up more high-level Democratic patronage jobs.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 4:11 pm:
Given the recent changes to the police pensions, I’m assuming the savings for the pension fund could be very significant.
It should be noted for the record, before someone spouts off about public unions and Democrats, that the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police endorsed Brady for governor.
- Bill - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 4:12 pm:
Take the money and run Troops!!
- wordslinger - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 4:22 pm:
Standard Operating Procedure. Take the money and run is right.
- Cindy Lou - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 4:28 pm:
Ex Rabid, they’re under SERS Alternative Retirement Forumula… high risk postions. Regular formula is based differently which the the majority of other employees in SERS are under.
- titan - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 4:31 pm:
excessively rabid - the pensions are based upon the employees highest several years. The 6% is the granting of COLAs.
- Demoralized - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 4:33 pm:
This is anything like the early retirement plan under Ryan. You could buy an additional five years of state service under that plan. This plan simply says that the raise due to you next June and July will be given to you before you retire. Yes, it will add some cost to the pensions but nowhere close to the ballpark of the Ryan plan. They wrecklessly backed themselves into a corner with the no layoff agreement so now they are looking for other ways to reduce payroll costs.
- 47th Ward - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 4:33 pm:
===short term vs the long term costs===
You mean “long term” as in what comes after the next 2-4 years? Because that’s as far as most of these guys can think, apparently.
There is simply no reward for long-term thinking in politics. This is the result: short term solutions that are generally short sighted.
- Demoralized - Friday, Dec 3, 10 @ 4:33 pm:
That should say “This ISN’T anything like . . .