Hainesville question one for leaders

Voters in the village of Hainesville are being asked, via an advisory referendum, whether they want the village's small staff to be covered by the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. This is the public pension fund that administers retirement and death benefits for local government employees.

Municipal employees in the village of Hainesville are entitled to a retirement plan. People on both sides of the question in the Feb. 5 advisory referendum agree on this basic premise.

But which plan? Mayor Ted Mueller notes that of the Lake County communities the village surveyed, all but three participate in the state plan. Residents George and Georgeann Duberstein, who got this advisory referendum on the ballot, think the employees are not entitled to this benefit at taxpayer expense. George Duberstein says all he wants is for the village board to look at alternatives to the state plan, which is a traditional defined benefit pension plan.

For example, the municipal version of a 401(k) plan puts more responsibility for retirement savings on the employee and allows the village to decide how much it wants to kick in each year -- just as private employers do.

Both types of pension plans are reasonable options for the village and its employees. But whatever decision is made by voters on Feb. 5 will not be binding. And we don't have strong feelings either way on what retirement plan is best for Hainesville employees, though we would agree they should have some form of benefit upon the completion of their careers.

Village officials are elected to make these kind of decisions so that everything doesn't have to come up for a popular vote. The advisory referendum has already served its purpose of elevating the debate over what retirement plan is appropriate.