It is unfair to blame the State Legislature for all pension abuses. In this case the locally elected Park District gave away the store to the fat cats.
It is of course up to the voters if they will accept such decisions. I would think with the Tea Party movement the local voters would throw the rascals out.
________________________
Park district pension ploy pays off handsomely
Park executives in Highland Park collected huge salaries, bonuses — even a free SUV — during height of recession
July 31, 2010|By Joseph Ryan, Tribune reporter
As the economy was taking a historic nosedive, parks officials in Highland Park were paying three of their executives far more — $435,203 in one case — than anyone in similar posts across the suburbs, the Tribune has found.
Parks officials in the northern suburb say it was a good use of taxpayer dollars, even though the off-the-charts spending spree included giving the three executives nearly $700,000 in bonuses while paying one of them $185,120 for no work and signing over an SUV to him as he left town.
The Park District acknowledges it did so, in part, to pad the executives' pensions, a practice pension officials say is wrong. The district's 58-year-old former executive director is now paid more in retirement — $166,000 a year — than he was typically paid to run the agency.
Read the rest of the story below:
Interesting footnote. The President of the Park District resigned under pressure. Now the former President is running again. It will be interesting to see if the voters will reelect the former President.
No comments:
Post a Comment