“Municipalities” that maintain and operate a website face an upcoming January 1, 2021 deadline to update their websites. The Illinois Pension Code was amended in 2019 when Governor Pritzker signed Public Act 1010-0504. The applicable section of the Illinois Pension Code defines a “municipality” as a city, village, incorporated town, county, township, a Financial Oversight Panel established pursuant to Article 1H of the School Code and any school, park, sanitary, road forest preserve, water, fire protection, public health, river conservancy, mosquito abatement, tuberculosis sanitarium, public community college district or other local districts with general continuous power to levy taxes on the property within such district; now existing or hereafter created within the State, and, for the purposes of providing annuities and benefits to its employees, the fund itself.
The amendment added new website posting requirements for the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) and for such taxing bodies. Such entities that maintain a website must now post a link to the IMRF “Employer Cost and Participant Information” webpage by January 1, 2021.
The new law also required the IMRF to post certain documents on its website. The IMRF has started posting this required information, which includes:
- Copies of adopted municipal resolutions to participate in IMRF adopted on or after January 1, 1995;
- An annual report that lists when the participating municipality was first established; and
- All documents relating to each municipality’s yearly projected contribution and past required contributions.
It is important to note that the new law does not require that municipalities establish or maintain a website, nor does it require that the IMRF post information that is otherwise exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
For more information about this article, contact Tressler attorney Jim Hess at jhess@tresslerllp.com.