WOODSTOCK – A proposal to end the McHenry County Board’s participation in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cleared its last procedural hurdle before heading for a formal vote later this month.
The County Board Management Services Committee voted Monday, 6-0, to recommend approval of the measure, which would not only eliminate IMRF as a benefit for future members, but also cease participation for existing ones, including the elected chairman.
The measure, which cleared the Human Resources Committee earlier this month on a 7-0 vote, likely will go to the full board at its next meeting June 21.
The proposal comes in the wake of an ongoing investigation by the IMRF as to whether County Board members, most of whom are enrolled in the system, are working the minimum 1,000 hours a year mandated by state law. It also comes on the heels of a bill headed to Gov. Bruce Rauner that would end future pensions for county board members statewide.
Members who already are vested, meaning they served the minimum number of years to get an IMRF pension, will still get one upon reaching retirement age.
Members who are not vested will not lose the credit they have accumulated to date, meaning it can be applied if they take a government job that is IMRF-eligible. The Illinois Constitution forbids altering pension benefits already accrued.
Government officials and employees who enrolled in IMRF before 2011 need eight years to be vested – that threshold increased to 10 years in 2011 as part of a pension reform package approved by state lawmakers. Eight County Board members have served long enough to be vested, and at least two others are vested through previous government jobs.
The IMRF investigation was prompted earlier this year by state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, who asked the fund to look into whether County Board members are working the required hours.
He also wrote the language in Senate Bill 2701, which passed the General Assembly last month, that would end IMRF participation for all county board members statewide.
Franks, who has locked horns with the County Board for years over reforms he has wanted, is running for County Board chairman.
Officials elected to county, township and municipal governments that have adopted a 1,000-hour standard, like the McHenry County Board did in 1997 for themselves and county government employees, will not meet that threshold, barring “highly unusual circumstances,” according to IMRF rules.
If approved by the County Board, IMRF credit for members will stop accruing with the Dec. 1 start of the next fiscal year and the seating of the new board following the November election.