Park District Pension Blow Out

Park District Board MEETING--August 19, 2010, Workshop/Board Meeting will be held at the Highland Park Community House, 1991 Sheridan Road, Highland Park. The Workshop Meeting will begin at 5:00 p.m. as scheduled. The Board Meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m.An Open Letter to the Highland Park Community-Read Here

I was stunned and outraged to read the original Tribune article or Aug 2 followup article that described the wasteful spending of our money by our Park District Commissioners. Lorry Werhane should very much regret the increased liability of about $56,000/year (based on $166,000 Vs. $110,000 pension if done properly) of increased benefits that the citizens of Highland Park and the State of Illinois must pay per year.

Salaries for Executive Director of $435,203 his last year and the current salary of $218,372 for Ken Swan is way over the bar. Wow.... full transparency and discussion forums of this travesty needs to be implemented now. Not only should the government look for ways to recover these wrongly sanctioned payments, but we should examine all our employment contracts and benefits to be sure things are now done properly.

We will be passing a Pension Reform Resolution at our next City Council meeting to insist our legislatures reform pension law to create a sustainable pension program and STOP abuses like the Park District imposed on our backs. Karen May who is on the pension subcommittee, is our best hope to champion these efforts and create change. Drastic changes from the current benefit defined plans to contribution defined plans must be implemented for real change to occur. We must not lay any additional current employee liability on future wage earners.

The Park District issue is the tip of the iceberg and we must change government NOW....... Please speak out!