Skokie board redirects insurance funds

This story originally ran on the private Methods Web site Nov. 19.

The Skokie Fire Department got a $63,000 boost to purchase thermal imaging cameras and fix workout equipment this week -- a boost that once would have gone toward pensions.

The Skokie Village Board of Trustees voted unanimously to amend the current budget to include the Foreign Fire Insurance Board's expenditure recommendations Monday. It was the first budget submitted by the recently formed board.

In February, the village board approved the creation of the insurance board in accordance with the Illinois Municipal Code. Composed of seven department representatives and the village finance director as a non-voting member, the board decides how the department uses taxes on fire insurance coverage provided by out-of-state, or "foreign," insurers.

The village treasurer once decided what to do with the money, which previously went into the fire pension fund, Fire Chief Ralph Czerwinski said in a phone interview. But now, when Skokie is faced with the question of how to pay for the expanding fire and police pension benefits mandated but not funded by the state legislature, the money is going to the department.

Czerwinski, who is not a member of the board but must approve the budget before it goes to the village board, said the board still has the option of putting the funds into pensions.

"They can make a conscious decision, and some boards have," he said, noting the Evanston Foreign Fire Insurance Board uses the money to fund pensions.

"I think it's something they should consider in the allocation of their funds," he said.

Among its expenditures for the 2010 fiscal year, the board budgeted about $12,000 for services, about 88 percent of which will pay for training. It also budgeted about $51,000 for supplies and equipment. With a $39,000 price tag, three thermal imaging cameras are the biggest equipment expenditure. The board's other priorities include lever entry door locks and flags and flag poles.

"It was a good cross-section of need and support for the department," Czerwinski said.

In light of the looming pension crisis, Trustee Randall Roberts asked Czerwinski about the designation of $1,800 to purchase three Weber grills during the meeting. In the phone interview, Czerwinski said the grills are part of the kitchen equipment necessary to the 24-hour operation of the department.

"Firefighters are good cooks," he said, adding, "We do a lot of grilling."

Without this funding in the past, Czerwinski said the department has had to make cuts to stay within its budget, and even now there are more requests than funding.

But with the pressure to solve the pension deficit building, Roberts seemed frustrated at the meeting.

"The Illinois General Assembly has done us a real favor here by telling us how to spend our money," Roberts said sarcastically before the village board approved the budget.

The village board is considering ways to compensate for a deficit in pension funding caused by the general assembly's expansion of pension benefits and unsatisfactory returns on the village's investments. It held a special session a few weeks ago to discuss options including raising property or utility taxes but has not decided what to do yet.