Dist. 220 gets partial refund of pension penalties

A $169,649 refund from the Teachers' Retirement System has removed Barrington Unit District 220 from the top of the state list of penalty payers for excessive raises and sick leave benefits.

TRS spokesman Dave Urbanek said he knew of only a $169,224.07 refund, but district officials insist they later received a second installment of a few hundred dollars.

The refund was issued after an appeal to the TRS determined the contracts or contract extensions of three retiring District 220 employees were eligible to be grandfathered under a June 2005 law penalizing districts for large raises that enlarge retiring workers pensions.

In late April, a Daily Herald series determined that the $288,680 in penalties District 220 paid for the three school years ending in 2009 was the highest in the state for that period.

The 2005 law limits the level of raises the state pension system will cover to 6 percent per year. Districts that approve larger annual raises - or exceed the normal allotment of sick leave in an employee's contract - are eligible for fines.

Districts pay between $2 and $2.60 for every dollar in raises above 6 percent. The fine reimburses taxpayers for a retiree's increased pension.

But collective bargaining or individual employment contracts still in effect on June 1, 2005 were grandfathered in. Under certain limited circumstances, contract extensions also were eligible to be grandfathered.

In the case of District 220's recent refunds, employee Margarita Vanderbusch was determined to have been on a grandfathered contract when she retired at the end of the 2005-06 school year, Urbanek said.

Two other District 220 employees - Leslie Potter and Nancy Locke - were on contract extensions when they retired in 2007. The extensions were found eligible to be grandfathered because both had notified the district of their intention to retire via e-mail before the expiration of their original contracts, Urbanek said.

District 220 unsuccessfully appealed the cases of two other employees on similar grounds, for about $105,000 more, board President Brian Battle said.

"This is a topic that has many levels of complexities," Battle said. "TRS has a difficult job and I appreciate the challenge that they have."

Both Battle and Superintendent Tom Leonard said District 220 may appeal those two cases again.

"We feel we have a good case on those other appeals," Leonard said.

The reduction in District 220's penalty brings its total down to $119,031 for the three school years ending in 2009.

That leaves Northwest Suburban High School District 214 at the top of the state penalty list for the three-year period, at $253,764.

The next highest payers were Elgin Area School District U-46, with $241,416, and Geneva Unit District 304, with $132,565.

District 220 now ranks fourth, followed by St. Charles Unit District 303, with $91,423.