Kane County may offer early retirement package

A Kane County budget subcommittee continued the tedious work Monday of figuring out how much they could save by offering employees an incentive to retire early.

The county board is considering such moves in an effort to cut $3.8 million from its 2009 budget.

Human Resources Director Sheila McCraven presented committee members information showing what the county would pay if it continued to fund part of the sheriff's employees' health insurance premiums as a retirement incentive.

Depending on he amount of coverage offered and for who, the plan would cost between $347,513 to $1.17 million for the 14 sheriff's department employees who are age 50 or older. Sheriff's department workers are being considered separately from the rest of county employees because they have a different retirement plan.

For other county employees, officials are investigating a voluntary severance plan like the one offered in Sangamon County.

Under that plan, employees were allowed to give up to four months' notice of their plans to retire. If Kane County did that, most of the savings wouldn't show up until the 2010 budget year, McCraven pointed out. The county's budget year starts Dec. 1.

Committee members also wondered how elected officials, such as the sheriff or coroner, could be made to honor any salary or hiring freezes, and how many positions they would refill with lesser-paid workers.

State's Attorney John Barsanti agreed to meet with other elected officials to find out how many employees they think would likely take severance packages, and how many they would likely replace. He said that under the proposed health insurance incentives, he suspected few of his support staff would choose to quit.

The subcommittee will meet again at 10:30 a.m. May 22.