DuPage benefits trim a wise model
It’s never easy to have your pay or benefits trimmed. Too many of us know that all too well. In that regard, we empathize with the DuPage County employees who will see their vacation, personal and sick time trimmed starting Dec. 1.
Still, this is a smart move. DuPage County Board members are to be commended for being proactive and approving it. It’s a model other public bodies should examine and look to follow.
DuPage board members voted this week to trim the time-off benefits, estimating it could save more than $1 million a year, or $28 million over the next two decades.
Sick time will be standardized with employees getting eight sick days annually. Currently, employees accumulate more sick time as their time as county employees increases. Vacation and personal time accrued also will be reduced. That move is expected to save $800,000 a year. The changes in the sick-time policy could save taxpayers $8 million to $12 million during the next 20 years, Daily Herald Staff Writer Robert Sanchez reported last week.
Of course, board members need to make sure the savings don’t get diverted elsewhere. At the same meeting, they voted to spend $800,000 to give $500 lump-sum payments to 1,600 full-time, nonunion workers who haven’t had raises for three years. That might be money well spent and deserved, but that practice cannot continue if taxpayers are to be helped by the benefits savings.
Trimming time-off benefits does seem to more closely move toward mirroring standards in the private sector.
Board member Jeff Redick, chairman of the ad hoc committee on human resources, said the changes “create a more stable and manageable long-term financial picture for the county.”
This is precisely the kind of study and action every level of government ought to be exploring. Think about it. We have a national debt crisis and roiling stock markets because the federal government is spending too much. State government isn’t paying billions it owes to people, other governments and private businesses every day. Nearly every transit agency around and many local schools and municipalities are facing budget deficits. As we all struggle to pull ourselves out of recession, taxpayers can cover only so much. Yes, part of the key to emerging from the sour economy is to get us all spending again, but only so much of that spending should be on government. It’s good and practical policy for government benefits to more closely reflect private benefits.
As we’ve said before, governments should not be granting lump-sum payouts of accrued sick time when workers quit or retire either. We strongly encourage all governments to look at vacation, sick-time and pension benefits and adjust them to a more sustainable model that mirrors private business standards.