Joliet Spent $4M On Vacation, Sick, Comp Payouts: Ferak Column

JOLIET, IL - For many years, one of the best kept secrets at Joliet's City Hall centered around the lavish employee fringe benefits program that was common during the tenure of long-time city of Joliet officials John Mezera, Tom Thanas and Jeff Plyman. It's probably no wonder that there was so little turnover in many city of Joliet departments over the past many years. Great pay, great benefits, a large government pension, plus a retirement payout, usually in the neighborhood of several thousand dollars, for cashing out your nest egg of accrued sick and unused vacation time on the eve of your retirement.

Since October, Joliet Patch and WJOL's Scott Slocum have scrutinized the city of Joliet's Cadillac benefits programs that predate the city's current administration. After all, the city's long-standing practice of letting staff pad their pensions with large banks of unused sick and vacation time was hardly advantageous to the city's taxpayers. On a positive note, current city officials have taken steps to eliminate the provision that allowed for the pension spiking.

"Continuing this practice is clearly unsustainable," Joliet's corporation counsel-interim city manager Marty Shanahan wrote in a memo that went out to city staff on October 27. "The past practice of extending the payouts for accrued vacation, sick and compensatory time over the last four months of employment will no longer be an option."

So why did Joliet have such a generous sick and vacation payout policy over the past many years? Was it the city's intention of using the benefits program as a carrot to help recruit the best and brightest to come and work for the city of Joliet?

Or was there an ulterior motive?

This month, Joliet Patch filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Joliet to obtain roughly a decade's worth of sick, vacation and comp time payouts for city employees who have retired since 2005. (The data furnished by the city did not include police and firefighters. They are in a separate pension program.)

Still, the data turned over includes about 125 retired city employees. Patch crunched the financial numbers and came up with the following information:

BY THE NUMBERS

125

The approximate number of Joliet city staff who have received a payout for accrued sick, unused vacation or comp time banks, or all of the above, since 2005 until October 2017. This figure did not include a number of current city officials who have submitted paperwork regarding their upcoming retirements in 2018, including public utilities administrator Jim Eggen and director of inspections Dave Mackley.

RELATED: Jim Eggen Will Get $97,000 For Unused Vacation, Sick Days

30

The number of retired city of Joliet staff who drew a payout of at least $40,000 for their large nest eggs of unused sick, vacation or compensatory time, provided they were eligible for comp time. Most of the 30 staff, however, topped $40,000 based on their sick and vacation accruals alone.

$4 MILLION

Estimated total that Joliet has paid out since 2005 to retiring city staff who cashed out their unused banks of vacation, accrued sick and compensatory time. As it turned out, two of the biggest benefactors of the city policy were former city managers and long-time coworkers, John Mezera and Tom Thanas.

$1.9 MILLION

Since 2005, Joliet has paid out at least $1.9 million to retiring staff for cashing out their unused vacation banks prior to their retirements, to help pad their pensions.

$1.89 MILLION

The amount Joliet has paid out since 2005 to retired city staff for cashing out their accrued sick banks prior to their retirements.

$220,400

The amount Joliet has paid out since 2005 to retiring staff who accrued compensatory time and chose to cash it out on the heels of their retirement to pad their pension.

$99,666

Amount that retiring Joliet City Manager John Mezera received around 2008 for cashing out his nest egg of unused vacation and unused sick days, a payment that helped boost Mezera's pension. Mezera's vacation payout was $48,929 and his sick bank payment made him another $50,737.

$208,000

Final salary of John Mezera. He worked for Joliet, starting as a civil engineer in 1976. Mezera later became city manager in 1987 until he retired April 1, 2008.

$192,944

Mezera's annual pension in 2017, according to the Better Government Association website.

$168,229

Amount Joliet paid to Tom Thanas for cashing out his unused vacation and accrued sick banks when Thanas retired from the city of Joliet effective December 4, 2013. No City Hall employee since 2005 has received more money for unused vacation and sick payouts than Thanas, Patch found. At the time of his departure from Joliet, Thanas drew a salary of $196,500, city data reflects. The payout to Thanas for his unused vacation bank gave him $120,427 and his accrued sick bank was worth another $47,802.

Since leaving Joliet, Thanas briefly served as a Will County Circuit judge and then he went over to Lockport to work as assistant city attorney for Lockport. He has since left Lockport. The Better Government Association pension database does not currently reflect that Thanas is receiving a pension yet.

$94,855

Amount paid to lawyer Jeff Plyman when he cashed out his unused vacation and sick days prior to his retirement from the city of Joliet as corporation counsel on October 30, 2014. Plyman was paid $57,123 for his unused vacation plus another $37,732 for his accrued sick days. Plyman made a salary of $152,081. In 2015, Plyman began collecting an annual pension of $81,069. This year, Plyman's pension is $85,909, according to the Better Government Association pension database.

$87,309

Amount paid to Jim Haller, Joliet's community and economic development director, for cashing out his unused vacation and sick time last year. Haller retired on July 29, 2016. His unused vacation was worth $51,024 and his accrued sick bank got him another $36,285, city data reflects. In 2016, Haller made a base salary of $149,157, according to the city. This year, Haller is getting a pension of $122,967, according to the Better Government Association.

RELATED: Was Jim Haller A City Hall Fat Cat?

Image of Tom Thanas via Joliet Patch, image of City Hall building via Joliet Patch, image of Jim Haller via city of Joliet