Discontinued Benefit for Library Board Members Still Adds Up to Big Cost

Hmm....

Cicero library board members get pricey perk: free health care for life. (Chicago Sun-Times, 4/26/2012)

Excerpt (with emphasis added): For now, at least six former library board members are taking the health insurance benefit, costing the library nearly $100,000 this year — a big bite for a modest library with a budget of only $1.7 million, records show. It’s the same insurance library workers get, but they don’t get it for free. 

The annual cost for insurance for former library trustees could shoot up to more than $300,000 a year, as more former trustees take advantage of the benefit, according to a 2009 analysis. 

Facing such dire prospects, the library board voted in 2010 to end the benefit. For newly elected trustees, that is. 

The trustees voting on the proposal — many of whom are still on the board — didn’t exclude themselves from the free health insurance when they leave. 

Guess it's no surprise that meeting dates aren't listed.

For more on Cicero, we now take you to John J. Flood and Jim McGough.

Chicago area folks offer advice about a potential move to Cicero. (2008)