Evanston’s City Council will meet at 5:45 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers at Morton City Hall, 909 Davis St., with a packaged agenda that includes voting on whether to pursue two staff reduction programs as part of handling next year’s daunting budget deficit.
City Manager Luke Stowe is asking councilmembers to consider both an early retirement incentive for staff who receive benefits through the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund and a voluntary separation program for retirement-eligible staff who fall under the IMRF and the separate police and fire pension funds. Eligible staff would have to be at least 50 years old or above depending on their tier, meaning the programs would target more senior staff with longer tenures and likely higher compensation.
The staff memos on these proposals don’t include estimates for how much money the city could save, but they note the city would need to replace no more than 70% of the payroll of employees who take the offers to actually see cost savings. When the Finance and Budget Committee discussed these programs earlier this month, staff estimated that savings would approach $2 million in the first year and $500,000 in ensuing years in reduced salaries and benefits, depending on how many employees take the offer…