Comments ignore true responsibility
Re: Island Lake police pension underfunding reports alarm former VOIL officials. The Daily Herald blog comments attempt shifting responsibility to everyone but the commenters. Everyone else should have spoken up? It’s analogous to holding carjackers blameless when victims don’t complain.
Comments accuse the pension board. But the board is responsible for funds invested, not deposits owed. This failure is the village board members at the time, not the PPFB. Yes, the statute is relevant!
Summarized in George Roach Associates’ audit brief to the new village board: “As background, when the village receives the (property) tax levy money disbursed by the count(ies), it is direct deposited into the village’s general fund bank account. By law, it is (mandatory) that the village treasurer ‘set apart’ the money into the funds for which it was levied and use the money (only) for that individual fund’s purpose.”
Final irony? A former board member’s comments: “The Island Lake Police Pension Fund shortfall was made public ... and yet ... no uproar ... until after the ... election.” No. 1 — Where was your “uproar?” You were elected and paid to comment.
No. 2 — If known before (doubtful)? You’d have lost by 100 percent.
No. 3 — You lost on stunning legal fees, now almost cut in half. Even while cleaning up the disasters left behind. On a $6 million village hall we could never afford. And now? An undeclared $400,000 in pension debt?
Dave Labuz
Island Lake