Double-dipping - good? bad? ugly?

Should double-dipping be allowed? tolerated? accepted by the taxpayers? Do the taxpayers even know when it is going on?

Double-dipping, as I am using it here, means the employment by government of a person who is receiving retirement pay from another government entity.

The most outrageous example in McHenry County is probably the deal worked in Lake in the Hills, Ill. The chief of police retired and claimed his retirement income. All good and well. But then the Village of Lake in the Hills created a new position of Director of Public Safety and whom did they hire? The retired chief of police!

So here is a guy getting his retirement pay for the job he did, and doing virtually the same job anew but for another large paycheck.

Other outrageous examples exist at the McHenry County Government Center, where "security" is provided by retired police officers.

Across Ware Road in the McHenry County Administration Building security is provided by a private security business, and guards are probably paid $12-14/hour.

But the pay-rate south of Ware Road is probably considerably higher.

A position became available last month, after being filled only two months earlier. How are court security officers hired? Is it by competitive application? Must officers meet physical standards and qualify at the range? And must they maintain the physical standards? What screening is there? Is there drug-testing before hiring? Is there random drug-testing after hiring?

In the case of that October hire, he had resigned as a deputy sheriff on October 3, and he went to work as a court security officer on October 4. How does something like that happen? Only if you have "pull".

One thing that I've noticed is that the entrances to the courthouse are usually over-staffed. How does it happen that so little management supervision is given to proper scheduling? Are these officers hourly or salaried? If hourly, how come stations aren't manned (no disrespect meant to the female members of the staff) only as needed? Why are officers allowed to loaf on duty, when "business" is slow? Proper supervision would dictate that they be put to work elsewhere in the building or sent home.

Back to the double-dipping. Does the Sheriff try to hire the best person for the job at the lowest possible pay, or is the plum of a courthouse security job given to the "faithful" who have retired of one of the many departments around the county? Why doesn't the sheriff help solve the unemployment problem in McHenry County by hiring and training capable men and women at a much lower pay rate than current levels?

Let the retirees live on their retirement income, and give a job to an unemployed person!


Pay grades are probably public record. Maybe it's time for the public to know what "security" at 2200 N. Seminary Ave. is costing them.