Roselle offers workers early retirement to ease budget crisis

After enacting several cost-cutting measures to balance its budget, Roselle officials this spring voted to offer early retirement to employees in a new effort to save money.

Officials said 13 people are eligible (union workers do not qualify) but they are unsure how many will take the offer, which runs through May 7.

"Once we see how many people are interested, we'll make an evaluation if we should replace the position, reassign it, or hire a part-time employee," Village Administrator Jeff O'Dell said. "You hope when you offer a program like this you don't have to replace those positions."

Roselle enacted furlough days, corresponding pay cuts and salary freezes for nonunion employees late last year in an effort to fill a $1 million shortfall in its operating budget.

The village also negotiated similar concessions with its fire and public works unions. Roselle and its police union could not reach a similar agreement, so two police officers were laid off and some outreach programs were cut.

Officials say the village is feeling the effects of the recession, stagnant property and sales tax revenues, as well as unfunded state mandates, declining state budget allocations and increasing pension obligations.

O'Dell also said Roselle's early retirement plan is in line with neighboring villages, such as Bloomingdale, which have enacted similar measures for similar reasons.

"We dealt with (the $1 million shortfall) last year and now we are trying to deal with structural imbalance where we were using reserves from capital projects to help balance the general fund," O'Dell said. "That problem still exists. We still don't have enough revenue coming in and this additional step is in that long process of trying to alleviate that."

All employees who opt for the early retirement offer and are approved must leave their posts by Sept. 1.