Buffalo Grove To Appeal Firefighter Pension Award to Family

BUFFALO GROVE, IL -- The Village of Buffalo Grove will appeal to the Second District Appellate Court a 100-percent line of duty death pension benefit award, approved by the Buffalo Grove Firefighters’ Pension Board in 2018, and most recently upheld by a Lake County Circuit Court Judge, according to a news release from the village. Village officials say they do believes the widow of Kevin Hauber is entitled to a surviving spouse benefit, which is equal to 75 percent of Mr. Hauber’s final salary of $101,549.28 or $76,161.96 annually. The Firefighters’ Pension Board awarded the additional pension benefit of $25,387.32 annually to Mrs. Hauber under the premise that his firefighter/paramedic service caused his colon cancer, a disease he ultimately succumbed to in January of 2018, according to the news release.

“We continue to mourn the loss of Kevin Hauber and are grateful for the contributions he made to our community; however, we are also required to uphold our core obligation to be responsible stewards of property tax payers’ funds,” said Dane Bragg, Village Manager. “The village of Buffalo Grove believes that the burden of proof to receive the additional pension benefit was not met under the statutory requirements.”

Over the life of the pension award, the village conservatively estimates that an additional $1.7 million in benefits will be paid to Mrs. Hauber due to the line of duty death award. Pension contributions are made through a combination of property taxes and firefighter salary contributions.

Firefighter contributions are fixed by state law; therefore, any additional pension liability will be paid for by property taxpayers in the village of Buffalo Grove, officials said.

This is the first known decision in the State of Illinois where a firefighter’s widow has been awarded the maximum 100 percent line of duty death pension without having to prove that specific acts of duty during the firefighter’s service actually caused (or contributed to) the death.

This case represents a dangerous potential outcome for an already stressed pension system - not only for the village of Buffalo Grove, but for 297 municipalities and fire protection districts throughout Illinois, according to the news release.

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