The Evanston City Council on July 24 approved fully funding its police and fire pension alongside expanding parking restrictions near the Central Street Metra station.
Fully funding Evanston’s police and fire pensions comes after the state previously allowed municipalities to pay 90% of the pension. However, City Council and Evanston’s Finance and Budget Committee want to push further and fully fund pensions to avoid any future undue financial burden.
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Councilmember Clare Kelly spearheaded the proposal and fought to implement funding during the 2023 budgeting process. Kelly saw limited success in November when City Council agreed to fully fund pensions for one year with Councilmember Thomas Suffredin being the lone opposing vote. Now, the pensions will be fully funded going forward with a unanimous City Council vote with Councilmember Eleanor Revelle being absent.
“This (state legislation) was supposed to be for municipalities that were struggling financially, give them a break and say, ‘Hey, as long as you’re paying on 90% you’re OK but we need to be by 2040,'” Kelly previously told Pioneer Press. “You find that you can relieve yourself of part of your payment, some amount that you would otherwise be paying. A lot of cities grabbed onto that.
“Politicians frequently latch on to that because it frees up money in your city budget, and if (you keep taxes down by) not paying entirely to the budget (everyone’s happy) and no one sees this because its consequence is down the road.”
Evanston will re-evaluate its pension funding policy every four years, according to its newly approved Pension Funding Policy, which states a long-term perspective is necessary when looking at the matter as opposed to following yearly shifts.
Evanston’s police and fire pension’s rate of return is 6.5% in 2023, which is equal to what Joliet and Waukegan offer. Many Chicago suburban municipalities offer a higher rate, such as Bartlett at 7.25% and both Algonquin and Arlington Heights at 6.75%, according to a city memo.
City Council also approved adding addresses on the 1900, 2000 and 2100 blocks of Central Street to residential parking district seven. The parking district will only allow residents to park.
The parking restrictions were originally placed on the area west of the train tracks and Green Bay Road, near the Central Street train station, according to a city memo. The memo states this was done to avoid local business and Metra customers from parking in adjacent residential neighborhoods.
Residents can buy a parking pass for $30 a year. 10 guest passes can be purchased for $2, according to the memo.
The extension of the parking district was in part to reduce Northwestern University-affiliated traffic, the memo states. Suffredin was the lone opposing vote on the parking district.
“This residential parking district may also be a tool that can be used to address parking congestion stemming from Northwestern athletic and special events,” the memo states. “Additional restrictions can be added to the existing residential district to encompass game and event dates, with relatively little additional effort to staff and no additional cost or effort to residents.”
Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.