Should Rockford City Council members earn pensions? Some receive one and others don’t

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Before City Council members decide the future salary for the job next month, they may settle a matter that has created a two-tiered retirement system with some aldermen earning a pension and others left out of the program.

Any City Council member who came into office after the spring 2021 election has not been eligible to participate in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, a well-funded system that serves thousands of units of local government in the state.

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That’s because the City Council was required to pass a resolution certifying that the job takes at least 1,000 hours per year, a requirement of IMRF since 2018. Aldermen instead took no action, effectively ending the pension program for future council members.

Now, the council may revisit the issue.

The council’s Finance & Personnel Committee is expected to consider Monday whether it wants to approve the necessary resolution and again allow aldermen to participate in IMRF. It could also, like a previous council, opt not to act and leave future aldermen out of the pension program.

“Rockford seems to be the only city of its size that decided to create a two-tiered system,” said Alderman Mark Bonne, who is among those not eligible to participate.

Bonne has argued in the past that he felt the two-tiered system was unfair, and that the council should reconcile the issue at the same time that it considers salaries for those serving after the next election. However, he said he won’t push for a change. That decision should be left up to council members who are already allowed to partake in the system, he said.

Bonne referenced the pension issue this week, and the plans to bring it to the Finance Committee, while making a motion to delay a vote for 30 days on setting elected officials. But he said in an interview after the meeting that he wasn’t advocating for a change.

Rockford is the fifth-largest city in the state, and it’s the only of the top five where aldermen don’t earn a pension. Elgin, the sixth, also doesn’t offer a City Council pension. Springfield and Peoria, the seventh and eighth largest, both offer pensions for aldermen.

Well funded

Alderman Chad Tuneberg, who is eligible but has opted not to participate, said he was initially hesitant to support a pension option for aldermen because of the state’s well-publicized issues with underfunded pensions. IMRF, however, is not among the statewide programs suffering from a lack of funding. IMRF is 98.2% funded, making it the best-funded system in the state. The average American public pension plan is funded 78%, according to the Equable Institute.

“I don’t really have any issues of anyone participating in it,” Tuneberg said.

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Right now, seven aldermen are not eligible to participate: Bonne, Aprel Prunty, Gina Meeks, Gabrielle Torina, Isidro Barrios, Janessa Wilkins and Jeff Bailey.

Four of the other seven are participating in the system: Jonathan Logemann, Tim Durkee, Frank Beach and Kevin Frost, who started in the system as a former city attorney.

Tuneberg, Bill Rose and Karen Hoffman are eligible but not participating as aldermen, according to city records.

IMRF pensions are calculated based on years of service and final rate of monthly earnings. It also takes 10 years to be vested, meaning an alderman would need to be in their third term to qualify to receive a pension. At the current $12,000 annual salary, an alderman with 10 years of service could earn a $166 monthly pension after age 67, according to IMRF’s pension estimate chart.

Setting salaries

Meanwhile, aldermen have delayed a decision that would set the salary for the next mayor and the next City Council members elected on April 1, 2025.

State law requires that elected bodies set their office’s salaries at least 180 days before the start of the next term. That’s done so that elected officials cannot adjust their own salary while in office, but rather must determine the compensation for whomever is elected to the position.

A proposal put forward last month would have increased the pay for City Council members for the first time in two decades.

The pay for the city’s 14 aldermen would increase from $12,000 annually to $16,000 if approved. The change would take effect May 5, 2025. Pay for City Council members was last increased from $10,500 to $12,000 in 2003.

The proposal also called for increasing the mayor’s salary from $129,730 to $149,000, a 15% increase. The mayor would then receive 2% annual increases each Jan. 1 for the four-year term.

However, Logemann, a Democrat representing the 2nd Ward, put forward a new proposal on Monday. Under his plan, the annual raise would be eliminated and instead the mayor would be paid $155,000 for each of the four years. The goal was to create a more transparent salary for the city’s top elected position. The four year pay would be $620,000, about $6,000 more than with the built-in raises.

Bonne asked the council to delay their decision for 30 days to allow for more time for consideration, including considering the matter of pensions. Aldermen approved that delay.

The next regular council meeting after the 30-day mark is June 17.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas