$116,000 Buyout For Joliet's Deputy Police Chief

JOLIET, IL — Last month, Joliet's Police Department bid farewell to Brian Dupuis, one of the city's four deputy police chiefs. Dupuis got promoted to deputy chief of technical services in 2014, and he recently retired after 27 years on the force. For now, Joliet is leaving his job unfilled. As for Dupuis, besides collecting a police pension, his severance buyout from the city was worth another $116,360, according to city payroll records furnished to Joliet Patch under a Freedom of Information Act request.

The $116,360 retirement buyout might cause sticker shock for many residents of Will County, but it really should not. The six-figure payout to Dupuis is part of an ever-increasing trend at Joliet's City Hall and particularly inside the Joliet Police Department where police officer salaries, overtime and gross pay are higher than ever.

Besides Dupuis, two other recently retired Joliet Police officers were in line for large retirement buyouts. The city informed Patch that retiring Officer James Allison's estimated buyout is $83,894 and the retirement buyout for fellow officer Patrick Blatti is estimated at $57,862.

Collectively, the three recent Joliet Police retirement buyouts for unused sick leave, accrued vacation and compensatory time banks cost the city about $258,000, Joliet Patch concluded.

However, it's important to note that the projected payouts to these three police officers were all within the scope of their Fraternal Order of Police employment contracts. That pact was negotiated between the FOP and city of Joliet officials. In fact, the FOP contract was ratified by Joliet's City Council.

Three recent JPD retirement payouts cost Joliet an estimated $258,000.

Secondly, even though these retirement buyouts for Dupuis, Allison and Blatti are, nonetheless, a significant city expense, these payouts will not spike their pensions. This is an important distinction because it contrasts with a number of other Joliet City Hall officials that Patch has written about since fall.

Joliet was notified back in October that city building services inspector David Mackley, who makes around $118,000, will also be paid another $104,155 for cashing out his unused vacation and sick days when he retires at the end of March.

ORIGINAL STORY: Mackley Due $104,000 For Unused Sick, Vacation

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But, that's not all.

Joliet's $104,155 unused sick and vacation payout stands to increase Mackley's municipal government pension by approximately $1,319 per month, according to a city council memo. Annually, that translates into an extra $15,800 for Mackley. He has served as Joliet's director of building and inspectional services division since April 2003 and he's worked for the city the past 33 years.

Historically, city employees, including police officers, could build up a large nest egg of unused sick, vacation and compensatory time to cash out at the time of their city retirement. However, with city of Joliet salaries skyrocketing in recent years and hundreds of Joliet employees now making in excess of $100,000, those retirement buyouts are higher than ever. After all, the payouts are based on the employee's current salary at their retirement, which is usually their higher rate of pay.

Besides a pension, JPD's Brian Dupuis gets $116,000 for cashing out his benefits.

In the case of Deputy Chief Dupuis, his January base salary was $147,844. Additionally, Joliet gave him a longevity bonus of $3,080, an extra annual stipend for his years of service. Furthermore, his benefits gave him an extra $5,406 as a "holiday stipend." In sum, his total annual pay was $156,330, or $75.16 per hour, according to city payroll data.

When Dupuis retired in late January after 27 years of police service, Joliet's books showed:

• 766 unused vacation hours. This was worth an extra $57,581.
• 335 comp time hours. This was worth another $25,188.
• 993 hours of unused sick leave, paid out at 45 percent. This was worth another $33,596.

As for the other two recent retirees, Officer Allison racked up 17 weeks of unused vacation during his time on the Joliet Police force, plus another 14.5 weeks of comp time. This year, Allison's hourly rate pay was about $50.50. As a result, the city estimated Allison's unused vacation payout at about $34,250, his comp time payment at $29,210 and his sick bank leave at $20,440.

The grand total of Allison's retirement buyout was worth almost $84,000, the city informed Patch.

On the other hand, Officer Blatti's was the lowest buyout of the three officers, at $57,862.

Blatti had 545 unused vacation hours worth $28,055. His 174 hours of comp time were another $8,968. Third, Blatti's unused sick time was worth another $20,838.

Joliet Patch's FOIA request to Joliet's City Hall also asked for the estimated pensions for Dupuis, Allison and Blatti, but that financial data was not immediately available through the city clerk's office.

The city did furnish the estimated wages for their police pensions as being:

• $107,121 for Allison
• $109,173 for Blatti
• $158,430 for Dupuis

Image of Brian Dupuis via Joliet Police Department; all Joliet Police payroll data supplied by city of Joliet to Patch via FOIA