3 Major Vacation Payouts In Hinsdale

HINSDALE, IL — The odds are that you work in a job where you ultimately lose unused vacation time. That's not necessarily the way it works in government.

Recently, Hinsdale village officials noted the expense of "substantial" vacation payouts for three employees in the last year, but did not give dollar amounts. Through a public records request, Patch obtained the numbers, which showed the three major payouts are expected to total $73,942.

Finance Director Darrell Langlois, who retired in February, collected $39,189 worth of vacation time, or 55 days. A police department employee is set to receive $18,912, or 45 days in vacation time. A fire department employee received $15,841, or 17 days in vacation time. (A fire department day is counted as 24 hours.)

Patch also asked the village for the five highest vacation balances currently. Four were in the police department, one was in the fire department. They ranged from 442 to 595 hours. The police department employee with 595 hours had an equivalent of 74 days of vacation time, or nearly 15 workweeks.

At a Village Board meeting earlier this month, Village Manager Kathleen Gargano said the village doesn't budget for such expenses because it doesn't know when employees are retiring. She said the costs are often offset by salary savings when longtime employees leave.

Officials don't expect many retirements in the next couple of years. The fire department, for instance, only has one retirement-eligible employee.