IMRF Board Resolution 2017-02-13 for Elected Officials' Participation in IMRF
March 3, 2017
The IMRF Board of Trustees has adopted Board Resolution 2017-02-13, requiring recertification of IMRF eligibility every two years for all elected positions.
This new Board rule requires all governing bodies of units of government with elected positions participating in IMRF to pass new resolutions re-affirming that the positions meet the IMRF hourly standard (either 600 or 1,000 hours per year). Hours spent at meetings, preparing for meetings, in the office, and actually conferring with constituents are counted as performance of duty and may be included in the IMRF hourly standard. Hours spent on-call or otherwise informally available to constituents do not count as performance of duty and should not be included in the IMRF hourly standard.
Regardless of the date of any existing IMRF resolution regarding eligibility of elected officials, a recertifying resolution must be passed by your employer’s governing body before September 1, 2017. The governing body may use IMRF Form 6.64, “A Resolution Relating to Participation by Elected Officials in The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund,” or your governing body may draft and adopt its own resolution that is consistent with IMRF Form 6.64. After the resolution is adopted, it must be filed with IMRF. If IMRF does not receive a recertification, the unit of government’s elected officials will no longer be eligible to participate in IMRF and will be administratively terminated by IMRF.
This IMRF Board rule was adopted because of issues related to the difficulty of determining how many hours of duty an elected position requires. Previously, IMRF required no recertification of eligibility for elected positions. If the governing body adopted a resolution for an elected position, any person holding the position could participate in IMRF, regardless of the date the resolution was passed. After IMRF began conducting employer audits, it became clear that many of the resolutions for elected positions on file with IMRF were no longer accurate statements of the hours required for the position.
The IMRF Board adopted its new rule requiring recertification of IMRF eligibility for elected positions for several reasons. First, the recertification process will give governing bodies the opportunity to review the IMRF eligibility rules that will ultimately aid their unit of government with compliance and avoid costly mistakes in enrollment. Additionally, recertification will streamline the IMRF audit process because IMRF’s auditors will be able to rely on the accuracy of the recertification without requiring additional documentation. Finally, recertification will take into account modernization and legislative enactments as it recognizes that required hours of duty of an elected position can—and do—change over time as technology and legal requirements evolve.
To comply with Board Resolution 2017-02-13, all governing bodies with elected officials participating in IMRF must adopt the initial recertification before September 1, 2017, and file it with IMRF. Afterward, the process of recertifying and filing the resolution should take place every two years. Failure to recertify will end IMRF eligibility for any elected position not recertified.
Contact IMRF with questions
If you have questions about your elected officials’ participation in IMRF, please contact IMRF’s General Counsel, Kathy O’Brien, at 630-368-5352.