Sunday’s Chicago Tribune is full of information about pension excesses that will make your blood boil.

I’d suggest you buy the paper, if you don’t subscribe.

There is a data base (I only managed to get it up once) that identifies those local governments who are in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund who have allowed employees to increase their salaries–using various techniques–during the last four years of employment (upon which IMRF pensions are calculated).

One piece of legislation allowed county elected officials to be treated with generosity similar to state legislators with regard to their pension base. (Pensions for legislators were calculated on their final salary.)

You will be pleased to learn that a past McHenry County Board rejected the request of such elected county officials.

In any event, the following are the ones I was able to see on the Tribune’s pension spiking list (I may have missed some):

• Village of Cary had one costing $5,675
• Cary Grade School District 26 had two such employees costing local taxpayers $17,608 per retiree
• Crystal Lake High School District had three employees, which cost $9,136 apiece
• Crystal Lake Park District has one that cost $10,546
• Village of East Dundee had one that cost $15,783
• Village of Huntley had one costing $10,164
• Village of Island Lake had one costing $7,647
• Village of Lake in the Hills had three costing an average of $10,989
• McHenry County had 19 costing $14,494 apiece
• McHenry County Conservation District had two employees costing $6,031 per employee.
• McHenry Grade School District 15 had one costing $9,683
• McHenry High School District 156 had one costing $5,735
• City of McHenry had two employees costing $6,034
• Woodstock Unit School District 200 had two costing $5,994
• City of Woodstock has six costing an average of $10,900