Mayor Houston criticized again for keeping ‘secrets’

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin on Tuesday called it “inexcusable” that the mayor didn’t inform aldermen about an audit and subsequent state order to change the way police pensions are calculated.

Because the Springfield City Council was left in the dark, McMenamin said aldermen approved a new contract with the city’s police union last December “under false pretenses.” “We’ve had enough secrets around here,” McMenamin said. “We didn’t need that secret.” McMenamin’s remarks were part of a back-and-forth exchange with Mayor Mike Houston at the end of Tuesday’s council meeting.

Just last week, aldermen learned that the state Department of Insurance ordered the Springfield police pension board to change the way it calculates pensions more than a year and a half ago — on Feb. 22, 2012. The order was the result of a 2011 audit of the pension board.

The state says that a departing 5 percent pay spike for retiring police officers must be divided over a 12-month period instead of being added as a lump sum to the final paycheck. Annualizing the pay increase, which the pension board was doing, violates Illinois’ pension code and incorrectly inflates pensions, according to the state.

The pension board appealed the February 2012 order to Sangamon County Circuit Court but didn’t change the way it calculated pensions. Again in August, the state requested the police pension board “cease and desist.”

The city has estimated that about a dozen recently retired officers have received inflated pension payouts totaling $16,500 for the past year and a half.

Asked why he didn’t tell aldermen about the order before they voted on the police contract, Houston told reporters: “That was under appeal. What we were concerned with was pulling that (the 5 percent pay spike) out of the contract. And we were able to negotiate that out. It was a very good thing to do because there’s still questions about whether you’re going to be able to do that or not.”