Posts Tagged Illinois Department of Insurance

BGA looks at municipal pensions in Cook County

Aug 14

Posted by Admin in Fire Service News | 3 Comments

An editorial article from PoliticsEarly&Often looks at municipal pension funds throughoutCook County:

There are 217 police and fire pension funds in suburban Cook County. The taxpayer-supported systems, with collective assets of nearly $5 billion, are intended to provide public safety workers and their families with stable retirement incomes. But a Better Government Association analysis found that dozens of local police and fire pension funds are in financial peril, putting retirement incomes at risk – as well as the fiscal health of numerous municipalities.

Rescuing the troubled funds may require tax hikes, service cuts or both, say experts. Already, some public safety agencies are looking to privatize or merge with neighboring departments in an effort to cut personnel and ease future pension payouts. Whatever the method, taxpayers can expect to bear a heavier cost burden because of the severe local pension shortfall. In all, unfunded liabilities for police and fire pension funds throughout suburban Cook County total $3.3 billion, according to a BGA analysis of the most recent municipal pension fund data.

Fifty-eight or roughly a quarter of the systems were less than half-funded, meaning there was fewer than 50 cents for every dollar owed in long-term benefits, according to the analysis. Generally, a minimum 80 percent funding is considered healthy. A state law approved in 2010 requires such pension plans to be 90 percent funded – by 2040.

At the current low funding levels the systems aren’t cushioned against investment losses, and may have to liquidate assets to pay benefits, raising the risk that some systems could run dry. In such a scenario, taxpayers could be responsible for any shortfall. If and how municipalities and pension funds can declare bankruptcy and get out from under financial obligations is unchartered terrain.

This municipal pension mess comes atop alarming money shortages in pension funds for employees of the State of Illinois, City of Chicago and Cook County. Each of those agencies has been trying to work out a legislative solution.

Without a doubt, the collective unfunded liabilities of those bigger pensions, in excess of $100 billon, are far greater than the combined suburban pension shortfall. However, the fire and police pension woes threaten to have a far greater financial impact on mid-sized and small municipalities because they have fewer viable options to raise revenues or cut costs to plug a pension hole.

Who’s to blame for the problems on the municipal level – where there’s been little public discussion about solutions – depends on who you ask. Observers say reasons include chronic underfunding, sluggish investment returns, overly generous benefits and, in some cases, potentially improper pension sweeteners.

Statewide there are 660 police and fire retirement systems outside Chicago. State law requires towns with 5,000 or more residents and which employ at least one full-time police officer or firefighter to create and administer pension systems for those workers. A fire protection district must create a fund if it employs at least one full-time firefighter.

In suburban Cook County there are 121 police and 80 fire pension funds, plus 16 separate fire protection district pension funds. In all, there are 5,900 annuitants; an additional 8,500 police and firefighters could collect a pension down the road.

The BGA reviewed the finances of each system – by analyzing documents, and contacting every pension agency or municipality – and found 204, or 94 percent, were below the 80 percent threshold.

Other revelations include:

The fire pension funds in Blue Island, Cicero and Melrose Park have just 32 cents for every dollar owed, the lowest among systems with at least $2 million in assets.

On the police side, Blue Island, Burnham, Summit and Willow Springs ranked among the lowest, each with less than 30 cents for every dollar owed.

Until recently the Stone Park police fund had just seven cents for every dollar owed. The village issued a $2 million bond in April, in essence borrowing money to pay its pension debts. Its funding ratio now stands at an estimated 23 percent, the fund’s attorney says.

A search of municipal and state records uncovered examples of alleged pension sweetening in Alsip, Blue Island and at the Pleasantview Fire Protection District. In Alsip, for example, two police officers retired days after receiving “longevity bonuses” of more than $20,000 each. Over their lifetimes those pay bumps could result in total additional pension payments of $1.8 million, according to a BGA analysis.

From 2010 to 2013, the total annual required contributions for Harvey’s police and fire funds was $10.1 million. State records show the south suburb, however, paid just $140 during that four-year span.

The Illinois Department of Insurance oversees pension funds statewide but historically there was little the agency could do if public safety workers got a last-minute pension boost, or a municipality didn’t meet its obligations. The department could levy a modest civil penalty but such fines were rarely issued. In short, there’s been little oversight to this point. Soon there could be repercussions, though.

The state law adopted by legislators in 2010 also empowers pension funds to intercept (in gradually increasing increments) sales taxes, grants and other revenues owed to the towns by the state if the required contributions aren’t made. That doesn’t take effect until 2016 but the law’s impact is already being felt, though not necessarily in ways that rank-and-file police and firefighters may appreciate.

North Riverside may privatize its fire department in part because of concerns that the village would go broke if it couldn’t afford its pension obligations and state revenues were intercepted, North Riverside Village Attorney Burt Odelson says.

The BGA found at least three other Cook County suburbs – Chicago Ridge, Forest View and McCook – are exploring or have already picked a cost-saving alternative to a municipal-run fire department. Rising pensions costs and concerns that precious state revenues could be garnished has brought the towns to this point. Chicago Ridge and Forest View are weighing the benefits of joining a fire protection district, or paying a neighboring town to provide the emergency service, among other options.

McCook, however, has made up its mind to shutter its fire department and hire a private company. Beginning Aug. 4, employees of New Lenox-based Kurtz Paramedic Service Inc. will fight fires and respond to emergency calls, says McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski, adding the move will save an estimated $600,000 annually.

thanks Dan

Tags: Illinois Department of Insurance, underfunded pension funds in Cook County

North Riverside considers privatizing FD (much more …)

Jun 27

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 4 Comments

A bunch of articles about the situation in North Riverside where village officials have underfunded the firefighter pensions and are considering privatizing the fire department.

This article is from the Chicago Tribune:

North Riverside’s recent efforts to cure its pension-driven financial ills have little bearing on the question of whether the village violated state statutes by underfunding its police and fire pensions, a state Department of Insurance attorney said in a hearing Thursday.

The department summoned North Riverside officials to its Chicago office to explain why the village underfunded police and fire pensions by about $5 million from 2008 to 2012, paying nothing toward the funds in several of those years.

Village officials focused on the future in the hearing, presenting an unusual plan to save money by contracting with an outside company for firefighting services. A newly passed water rate increase will also help, officials said.

The village was one of at least six Illinois municipalities to receive letters from the Department of Insurance ordering the towns to pay more toward their pensions or face penalties. The letters include information about a new enforcement mechanism that will allow the state to force municipalities to pay more toward police and fire pensions starting in 2016. Department of Insurance officials said the hearing was held to determine whether the village violated state laws by underfunding the pensions. State law gives leeway for underpayment if municipalities can show “good and sufficient cause” for the underpayments.

“It seems they are taking many steps to move forward, but they haven’t explained why they didn’t take those steps earlier,” Department of Insurance attorney Amanda Kimble said in the hearing.

Kimble and the village argued their cases before a Department of Insurance hearing officer, who will make a recommendation to the department’s director about whether the village violated state statutes by underpaying its pensions. A recommendation is at least several weeks away, the hearing officer said.

North Riverside projects a budget deficit of $1.9 million for the coming fiscal year, $1.8 million of which is due to its pension obligations, village officials have said. Officials have said privatizing the fire department would save the village about $745,000 per year by reducing benefit costs and moving employees into 401k retirement plans. The North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714 has threatened to sue if village officials go through with the privatization plan, saying the union’s contractual agreements with the village would prevent privatization.

Village officials and firefighters union representatives both questioned the Department of Insurance’s focus on past underpayments instead of solutions for the future.

A 2013 letter from the department to the village noted the village paid nothing toward its fire pensions from 2009 to 2011 and paid only a fraction of what it should have in 2012, violating statutes requiring municipalities to meet payment schedules. The village underpaid its police pensions over the same period, the letter states.

Village officials have said they could not afford the pension payments because the economic recession reduced sales tax revenue, which makes up a large portion of the village’s revenues.

Kimble noted the village managed to make payments to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund — the pension fund for non-uniformed employees — during the years it failed to pay toward the police and fire funds.

The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund already contains an enforcement mechanism like the one that will available for police and fire pensions in 2016, North Riverside Finance Director Sue Scarpiniti said at the hearing. For that reason, the village made payments to the municipal fund, she said.

Union officials also criticized the village for not making the required payments, but said the best solution for North Riverside residents is more likely to come from the negotiating table than from state enforcement actions.

The union’s latest contract with the village expired April 30. The two sides began a new round of negotiations June 24, union officials said.

This editorial is also from the Chicago Tribune:

North Riverside is a small town with a big problem: It can’t make its pension payments.

The west Cook County suburb of 6,700 people faces a $1.9 million budget deficit. One big reason for the gap is that it has to make a $1.8 million payment to its police and fire retirement funds. North Riverside doesn’t have the money.

The village can’t tax its way out of debt. It can’t borrow its way out of debt. It can’t wait for state lawmakers to fix the problem. It needs a solution, now.

In short, it is much like the city of Chicago and countless municipalities around the state. It is in trouble.

On Monday, the North Riverside Village Board voted 5-1 to contract with a private company to staff its fire department. It’s a creative answer — and not as risky as it might sound.

The city’s 12 firefighters and four lieutenants will keep their jobs at their current salaries with modest raises ahead, but they will work for Paramedic Services of Illinois, which already provides ambulance service for the village. The head of the fire department will still work for the village.

North Riverside officials say they will save more than $745,000 next year in lower costs for insurance, overtime, sick leave and pensions by shifting employees to the private company. The firefighters’ traditional pension plan will be frozen, and they won’t lose any accrued benefits. Going forward, they’ll have a 401(k) retirement plan, as so many private sector workers do.

North Riverside will save up to $4 million over the next five years through this deal, the village estimates. That will go a long way toward resolving the financial crisis.

Expect to see this kind of contract arrangement for essential services happen more often as local governments grapple with massive pension obligations and wait in vain for the Illinois legislature to provide them some relief. Cities and towns are suffocating under the pressure of those pension obligations. North Riverside’s firefighter pension fund has only 43 percent of the money needed to meet its obligations. The village didn’t make full payments in recent years as tax revenues lagged.

The village was prompted to act now by a state law that forces local governments to ramp up pension contributions under threat of having sales tax revenue and state funding diverted to the pension plans if they don’t comply. North Riverside received a warning last year from the state Department of Insurance. Earlier this month, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded North Riverside’s credit rating.

So the village has its answer. It’s a creative one. And we expect you’ll hear a lot of towns making the same decision in coming years. Nobody else is giving them an answer for their financial woes. They have to find one on their own.

This article is from the Washington Times (IL):

One of a number of Illinois towns struggling with increasing pension costs wants to save money by shifting control of its fire department to a private company – a rare move village officials argue is the only option because they can’t make any more cuts or raise taxes.

The village of North Riverside pitched the cost-saving proposal before state regulators Thursday at a Chicago hearing after being summoned for repeatedly shirking payments into its firefighter and police retirement funds. Mayor Hubert Hermanek estimates the village could save $700,000 annually by privatizing its fire department – a solution that some say could be tried more and more in coming years.

In 2016, state law requires cities to make required contribution increases so they’ll reach 90 percent funding by 2040. If cities don’t, the state will begin doing it for them by diverting grant money now used elsewhere directly into pension funds. Many cities have pushed off payments, and the Department of Insurance is meeting with some of the worst offenders to create a funding plan. However, the department can’t approve a privatization plan.

“Considering the onerous labor mandates that have been approved by the state and imposed on local government, along with the heavy financial burden created by the pension obligations, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more communities exploring alternative service delivery options,” Joe McCoy, legislative director for the Illinois Municipal League, said.

Under North Riverside’s proposal, the fire department would be folded into the village’s contract with Paramedic Services of Illinois, the company that provides its ambulance service. Hermanek said all 16 current firefighters would be offered employment under the five-year contract with the company.

Privatized municipal fire departments are somewhat rare in Illinois. Lincolnwood, a village in Cook County, hired a private company to operate its fire department in 1990 after ending a contract with the city of Chicago.

But firefighter union officials say privatized fire departments provide lower service levels to residents because companies are more interesting in turning a profit. Pat Devaney, president of Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, says North Riverside officials should be held accountable.

“Anybody who has done even just a small amount of research into the way the politicians in North Riverside have managed their finances would be outraged.” Devaney said. “Here’s the plan – let’s blame the firefighters for it. It’s disgusting.”

Records obtained by The Associated Press show North Riverside officials didn’t put any money into its firefighter or police pension funds in multiple recent years. Overall, it’s come up more than $5 million short between 2008 and 2012. But village officials contend the shortfall can be attributed to a loss in sales tax revenue from the North Riverside Park Mall during the economic downturn and an inability to raise property taxes.

Still, village officials have hailed their plan as a “bold and innovative” way to solve a problem facing many Illinois towns.

“The good news is that we have an excellent solution, one that allows us to keep the strongest emergency and fire protection services in place and avoid layoffs without having to sacrifice other village services,” North Riverside village attorney Burt Odelson said in a statement.

From the Landmark.com:

The attorney representing North Riverside’s firefighters on Thursday said that if the village insists on moving ahead with its plan to privatize fire protection services, the union would fight the attempt in court.

“They can’t do this,” said J. Dale Berry, who represents North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714.

Berry said state law prohibits municipalities from hiring public safety officers who have not undergone rigorous civil service testing to which firefighters and police officers submit.

Firefighters at a June 24 contract negotiation session proposed saving money by beginning to train its firefighters as paramedics and eliminating the need for North Riverside to pay a private company for paramedic services. The plan came with a proposal to hire three firefighter/paramedics to get the ball rolling.

The village maintains that such a solution only increases its pension obligations. But firefighters also rejected the village’s privatization proposal, which was offered at the same meeting.

But if the village insists on moving forward with its plan to obtain firefighter services from Paramedic Services of Illinois (PSI), Berry said that matter will end up in court.

North Riverside firefighters are currently working without a contract. Their most recent deal with the village expired April 30.

Berry’s statements came following North Riverside’s hearing Thursday afternoon before the Illinois Department of Insurance. The village faces draconian sanctions for failing to fully fund its police and fire pension obligations over more than a decade.

Information entered into the record at the hearing showed that North Riverside failed to contribute anything to its pension funds in six of the past 14 years, and in six other years failed to contribute the 90 percent threshold the state requires.

A state law allows the Illinois comptroller, beginning in 2016, to deduct funds from other state revenues, such as sales taxes and other shared taxes, to force the village to comply with pension funding laws.

Since sales taxes and state shared taxes are the lifeblood that funds the majority of North Riverside’s general operations, such a move would have deep impacts on village services.

During the nearly two-hour hearing at the Department of Insurance’s office in downtown Chicago, North Riverside laid out its reasons for why it failed to fund pensions sufficiently as well as its plans to fund them in the future.

Among the bombshells dropped during the hearing was news that North Riverside would seek a property tax increase from voters in November in order for the village to make its required contributions for police pensions in the future.

According to North Riverside Village Attorney Burt Odelson, the referendum will essentially ask voters to approve tripling what local property owners pay in real estate taxes to the village.

Because the village has frozen its property tax levy for a quarter of a century, North Riverside’s take of homeowners’ property tax bills is a mere fraction of the total — on average about $250 per residence. A successful referendum would make that about $750, said Odelson.

In addition to the referendum, there will be cuts to services. North Riverside Finance Director Sue Scarpiniti, who testified at Thursday’s hearing, said the village board is looking to make cuts to the budgets of the police and other departments.

A schedule of those cuts provided to the Landmark on Friday indicates that the village board will seek to cut police overtime by $100,000. In addition, the board plans “salary reductions” for the code enforcement, administrative and public works departments totaling $90,000. On top of that, the village is asking departments to trim an additonal $192,000 from their combined budgets for the 2014-15 fiscal year.

On the revenue side, the village is projecting to collect $100,000 in fines related to the red light camera recently installed at Harlem Avenue and Cermak Road.

The cuts, water rate increases, the property tax increase and privatizing the fire department would save the village about $1.1 million in fiscal year 2014-15, which began May 1. But that’s still well short of the $1.9 million deficit the village projects in its operating fund during that period.

The difference would be made up by spending cash reserves, said Scarpiniti.

A second bombshell revealed at Thursday’s hearing was news that on June 20 Moody’s Investors Services, which rates the credit worthiness of municipalities, downgraded North Riverside three levels from A1 to Baa1 and assigned the village a negative outlook. Moody’s pointed specifically to the village’s pension situation, its unfunded post-employment benefits liability and its dependence on sales taxes for revenue as reasons for the downgrade.

Both Odelson and Berry urged the Department of Insurance not to impose a solution — in particular the deduction of sales taxes and state shared taxes for pension purposes — which would make it more difficult for North Riverside to deliver services to its residents.

Berry said that while North Riverside’s level of pension funding may not be much different than many municipalities in Illinois, “what they did that was provocative was that they didn’t make any payments” for six years.

Louis Butler, the Illinois Department of Insurance deputy general counsel who presided over Thursday’s hearing, indicated it would be at least two weeks before he submits a recommendation regarding possible sanctions to the director of the department.

thanks Dan

Tags: Amanda Kimble, Derek Zdenovec, Illinois Department of Insurance, Joe McCoy legislative director for the Illinois Municipal League, Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr, North Riverside Fire Department, North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714, Paramedic Services of Illinois, village may privatize fire department

North Riverside considers privatizing FD

Jun 19

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 5 Comments

Several contributors submitted the information here about a possible change for the North Riverside Fire Department.

From the Riverside – Brookfield Landmark:

Facing a pension-funding crisis, the North Riverside village board finds itself in a position where it may look to privatize some village services — potentially its fire department — in order to balance its budget.

No decisions have been made, but the village board’s finance committee is scheduled to meet June 30 at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at North Riverside Village Commons, 2401 Desplaines Ave., to come up with a path forward.

“We have to do something radical,” Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr. told the Landmark during an interview on Saturday. “Nothing is off the table.”

The June 30 finance committee meeting will follow in the wake of a hearing before the Illinois Department of Insurance that village officials have been ordered to attend at the Department of Insurance, 122 S. Michigan, 19th floor, in Chicago on June 26. According to Kimberly Parker, communications manager for the Illinois Department of Insurance, the hearing is being convened to allow North Riverside to present a course of action for coming into compliance.

In February 2013, the Department of Insurance issued a notice of non-compliance to the village regarding North Riverside’s contributions to its police and fire pension funds. North Riverside was one of five municipalities to receive the notices last year. At the time, North Riverside was warned to “take immediate steps to bring itself into compliance” with the state pension code.

Since 2008, North Riverside has paid just a fraction of its pension obligations; for four years running, the village paid nothing into its pension funds. During the 2013-2014 fiscal year, which ended April 30, North Riverside contributed about $340,000 to its police pension fund and about $223,000 to its fire pension fund.

In order to fully fund its police and fire pensions for the 2014-15 fiscal year, North Riverside must contribute about $1.8 million.

On Saturday, Hermanek said that’s exactly what the village wants to do.

“My hope is that we will completely fund the pensions,” said Hermanek. “It’s going to be difficult.”

That’s because if the village is to fund both its pension obligations and maintain village services at their current levels, the village will see its general operating reserves cut by almost $2 million.

That would drop the village’s general operating reserves to just about $2.1 million, which represents about 13 percent of annual expenditures. And that reserve would disappear completely by 2015-16 if service levels remain unchanged and pensions are funded completely.

“We would have a balanced budget if it wasn’t for the pensions,” said Hermanek. “It’s imploding the village. We have to do something out of the box. It’s not fair to residents to cut services and lay off people to make our pension obligations.”

A 2011 state law requires municipalities to meet its fire pension obligations. If a municipality doesn’t meet those obligations, according to the law, the state comptroller in 2016 will deduct up to “one-third of the total amount of any grants of state funds to the municipality” to cover the shortfall.

In 2017, that amount jumps to one half of any grants of state funds; in 2018, the comptroller can deduct the total amount to meet the shortfall.

In 2014-15, the village’s fire pension obligation is almost $744,000 and is projected to rise to $950,000 by 2016-17. Officials project spending $4.74 million (including the pension obligation and a $612,000 line item for paramedic services) for fire protection in 2014-15.

The village board still hasn’t approved a budget for the present fiscal year, which began May 1. And the board hasn’t made any final decisions on service cuts or delays in capital expenditures.

The village in recent years has raised rates somewhat, but not nearly enough to keep up with substantial increases being passed along to the suburbs by the city of Chicago. As a result, the village’s water fund has been running annual deficits in excess of $350,000, leaving the general operating fund to make up the difference.

At a special village board meeting that’s been scheduled for June 23, North Riverside trustees are expected to increase water rates by $1.50 per 1,000 gallons of water and impose a $15 per month “water operations fee” on all residential and commercial water customers. The increases are expected to bring the village an additional $800,000 to its water fund.

A draft version of the 2014-15 budget shows the village is predicting sales tax revenue will recover after coming in substantially below expectations in 2013-14. During the last fiscal year, sales tax revenues fell short of expectations by almost $720,000.

But officials are hopeful that a full year of sales at Costco, a new Chick-fil-A, Red Robin and other new retail businesses at the Costco outlots will cause sales taxes to rebound.

From the TribLocal:

The Village of North Riverside is considering privatizing its fire department, saying rising pension costs and a state requirement that municipalities fully fund pensions have forced it to make drastic changes.

The village is publicizing the privatization proposal in advance of a June 26 hearing with the Illinois Department of Insurance, Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr. said Wednesday. The department summoned the village to explain how the village plans to pay a $1.8 million public pension obligation by a 2016 deadline, Hermanek said.

At next week’s hearing, the village plans to propose cutting costs by shifting firefighters to a private provider of paramedic services the village already uses. The village could save $700,000 per year by expanding its 28-year agreement with Paramedic Services of Illinois to include the village’s 16 firefighters, Hermanek said. The savings would come from a reduction in overtime, vacation, workmen’s compensation, liability insurance and other costs, in addition to reducing the village’s pension obligations to the state, he said. The firemen would move to a 401(k) style retirement plan, he said.

Derek Zdenovec, secretary of North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714, said when reached Wednesday that the union had no comment. He said the union did not learn of the agreement until it was publicized Wednesday.

The union’s latest contract with the village expired at the end of April. Negotiations on a new contract had not yet begun as of this week, Hermanek said.

Under a new state law, municipalities must fully fund pension obligations by 2016, Hermanek said. If towns don’t make the payments, the state may take money from their sales tax revenues, according to a Village of North Riverside news release. The village recently reviewed budget figures showing it faces a $1.9 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2014-15, $1.8 million of which is from its pension obligations, according to the release.

thanks Dan, Joe, & Richard

Tags: Derek Zdenovec, Illinois Department of Insurance, Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr, North Riverside Fire Department, North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714, Paramedic Services of Illinois, village may privatize fire department