The 2013 payout to former Metra CEO Alex Clifford is just one example of outrageous severance packages still being handed out to public employees in Illinois, the Better Government Association (BGA) contends.
Clifford received a package worth more than $650,000, but the overall cost to taxpayers exceeded $1.3 million, the BGA said, because of the cost of public relations assistance and outside legal counsel.
With the state still crushed under a mountain of debt, the BGA said putting regulations in place to end such severance payouts would go a long way toward easing some of the strain.
Since 2015, Illinois has limited contractual severance packages paid out to community colleges thanks to a law enacted following a College of DuPage controversy. The BGA said similar measures should be put into place statewide.
The BGA pointed to Florida, which now limits state officers, agents, employees and contractors to no more than 20 weeks’ salary after departure. Employees without a contract are capped at six weeks’ salary.
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