East Dundee approves tuition reimbursement for employees

East Dundee village staff members seeking to further their education will receive financial assistance from the village now that trustees have approved a controversial tuition reimbursement program.

After weeks of debate, the village board Monday night voted 5-2 in favor of a revised program, which would reimburse village employees up to $2,500 for courses up to the undergraduate level that are directly related the employee's current job or potential future opportunities. The village would cap the program at $10,000 per year.

The amount of reimbursement would be contingent upon the employee's final grade and would not cover textbooks, student fees, matriculation fees, parking or mileage.

Despite vociferous opposition when the program was first brought to the board, Trustee Michael Ruffulo on Monday changed his stance and voted in favor of the modified program, along with trustees Rob Gorman, Jim Lynam and Kathleen Mahoney and Village President Dan O'Leary.

Initially, village staff had proposed reimbursement for master's degrees courses, in addition to associate degree, undergraduate and certificate-level courses.

Those in favor of the program said the benefits far outweigh the costs.

"This is a great investment," Gorman said. "We are always talking about investing in the town and we want to invest in people who can make a difference."

O'Leary also said the total expenditure for the program amounts to less than 1 percent of the village's budget.

However, others say the funds could be used to keep other village programs and projects afloat as the village stares down a potential $750,000 budget hole if the village's largest revenue-generator, Wal-Mart, shutters its store on Route 25 when the retailer opens a proposed store in West Dundee.

"I don't feel we have the money in the budget and I never did feel that we had the money in the budget," said Trustee James Carlini, who joined Trustee John Cichowski in dissenting. "If we did have that kind of money we could add another 10, 20 projects."