Hawthorn IMRF contribution

Hawthorn Elementary District 73 will make a $500,000 payment to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund in an effort to reduce its $4 million unfunded liability to the retirement plan. The school board on Friday unanimously agreed to make the contribution this year. It also is considering four options to reduce the liability in the future that are expected to be discussed at budget time in April. The unfunded liability has been noted in annual audits, but the district did not have the ability to address it in previous years due to cuts that were made to balance the budget, school officials said. IMRF is a retirement plan for staff who are not certified to be teachers, covering about 167 District 73 employees.