A VIEW FROM METRO EAST

Tony Bosich hardly made a headline in 22 years as a member of the Madison County Board. Not until he took a mundane job as pump operator for the local drainage district did Bosich, at 79, hit the jackpot of political controversy.

He hit the jackpot of pension manipulation, too, according to critics who see his circumstances as an aggravated reason to amend a retirement plum that fell from the legislative tree two years ago.

Consider this:
Bosich, of Wood River, was earning $9,833 a year as a board member when he retired in November. Under terms of the ECO (Elected County Officials) pension plan, he was entitled to 80 percent of his final rate of pay, $7,866. So far so good.

But before leaving and despite the fast approach of age 80, Bosich applied for and got the $27,040-a-year pump operator's position at the Metro East Sanitary District, a highly politicized agency for generations. Its director, Mac Warfield, is also the county Democratic Party chairman.

Do I need to mention that Bosich is a Democrat?

Anyhow, under ECO, Bosich combined his rates of pay for one magic day in November and claimed a pension based on 80 percent of both, or $29,498. He indicated he planned to work at the Sanitary District only several months.

Two years ago, the General Assembly allowed county boards to adopt the Elected County Officials retirement plan.
Costs have skyrocketed.

Critics, especially Republicans, were incensed at what they saw as a "ripoff" of a taxpayer-funded system. Countywide elected officials, all Democrats, petitioned the part-time board chairman, Rudy Papa, also a Democrat, to press for legislative reforms, which he did.

The chairman also hurried to distance himself from the controversy, noting he neither gave Bosich a county job nor recommended him to Warfield who wasn't talking.

Papa already had been stung once y ECO, when he named another retiring board member - Jack Frandsen of Alhambra - to a vacancy as county auditor late last year.

The former auditor and now county treasurer, Fred Bathon, set aside Democratic Party harmony and blasted the move as a shallow attempt to sweeten Frandsen's pension - something Papa and Frandsen naturally denied.

True enough, Frandsen's future pension immediately shot to $52,552 from $7,866. But Papa insisted that should not preclude appointment of the best candidate.

Indeed, the flaw is with ECO itself, according to Rep. William B. Black, a Danville Republican and co-sponsor of a bill (similar to another by Republican Sen. John W Maitland of Bloomington) to fix it.

One problem, Black explains, is it lets people like Bosich claim credit for nonelective government service. The bill would change that. Another problem is that, unlike most pensions, it is factored on the final rate of pay, not the past four years' wages as Black proposes.

Not only does the current law invite guys like Warfield to do favors for guys like Bosich, but it drains the fund. Remember that Bosich contributed (the ECO rate is 7.5 percent, matched by the county) based not on the combined higher pay but on the board salary of about one-fourth as much.

For his part, Bosich said he is working for his money and has done nothing more than follow the rules.

The General Assembly set those rules in 1997, allowing county boards to vote on whether to adopt ECO (an irrevocable decision). About half did.

Each official of those counties has the option of participating, or staying in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund system (less contribution for a smaller pension - 75 percent after 40 years) or not taking a pension at all.

Meanwhile, Ford County, in east-central Illinois, plans to ask a judge to force IMRF to let it out of the ECO plan, claiming costs were misrepresented. Board Chairman J.R. Herriott says he was told to expect $5,000 a year in extra costs and may end up with $68,000.

IMRF warned counties to compute their own impact from ECO before voting. Madison County did, estimating an extra $100,000, but got nailed the first year for $133,000. And that's before Bosich.

How many other Bosichs lurk in the pension shadows of other Illinois counties? Black says nobody knows.

Patrick E. Gauen covers Illinois politics for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch