Ed Brill

Photos

• This member does not have any photo galleries.

Comments and replies

1. Ed Brill wrote 11 months ago

   Supporters are about more than promises made, promises kept. We envision a destination golf course that will bring more economic growth to Highland Park and Highwood and help bring together our communities at a beautiful site overlooking the lake.

   The money-losing aspects of the opposition discussion are odd, considering that the LCFPD spends more than $70 million a year that comes straight from taxpayer wallets. The projected revenue at Fort Sheridan is break-even or minor losses, and the structure of the proposal is such that that risk is on the licensee, not LCFPD.

   Surrounding courses may be impacted, but there may be too many anyway and some could be converted to other recreational uses. A new course at such a beautiful site fulfills a master plan vision that LCFPD and four other entities signed up to decades ago, and only LCFPD has failed to hold up their part of the bargain.

   Posted to Lake County Forest Preserve District votes to entertain Fort Sheridan golf proposals - Highland Park & Highwood

2. Ed Brill wrote 1 year ago

   That is an interesting misdirection technique. I guess it isn’t that clear or you wouldn’t be asking readers to “draw [their] own conclusions.”

   Posted to Pension Spiking: A Matter of Public Record - Highland Park & Highwood

3. Ed Brill wrote 1 year ago

   I’ll ignore the 2nd attempt to cut me down for commenting, and just state that I am really puzzled how the percentage increases are somehow an attempt to spike a pension versus someone running one of the largest school districts in the state being paid accordingly — and consistently with her successor — for the job. Do you have some documentation on how pensions are funded for retired teachers by ISBE? Isn’t it true that most of the funding comes out of investments made by ISBE along with state-wide tax contributions? Does ISBE have guidelines that D112 did or did not follow?

   Posted to Pension Spiking: A Matter of Public Record - Highland Park & Highwood

4. Margie Kapnick wrote 1 year ago

   @edbrill
   If you have an actual copy of the contract is April 7, 2004.

   The amounts in the contract are the base salary per year; her total compensation included travel allowances, separate 403(b) contributions each year, and any other monies the Board saw fit. Do analyze the number and the progression of salary increases by percentage; quantitative trends are more accurate than off the cuff defensiveness.

   If you don’t have an actual copy of the contract and minutes, you can get them via FOIA.

   Posted to Pension Spiking: A Matter of Public Record - Highland Park & Highwood

5. Ed Brill wrote 1 year ago

   @margiekapnick I agree that if it was something buried I would be concerned. But the way I see that progression for Hager is that her salary grew by 50% between 2000 and 2004 and then again between 2004 and 2009. In the section A PP1 that you quote from April 8 2004, the numbers there don’t actually map to what Hager apparently earned according to the ISBE report you cite. So what is that discrepancy in the signed contract, which seems very reasonable considering that we’re paying the current super $260K with far fewer years of experience, that explains the higher actual numbers after the board change in 2005?

   Posted to Pension Spiking: A Matter of Public Record - Highland Park & Highwood

6. Margie Kapnick wrote 1 year ago

   @edbrill If Dr. Behlow’s final salary spikes 80% over his last 5 years, 60% of which is front-loaded (aka hidden) in the first 3 years of that contract, then yes, I would say his salary was spiked. If you analyze the numbers rather than striking from the gut, it’s the breathtaking percentage spikes the Board authorized in the 5 year contract, then attempted to bury in the earlier years, that makes this so egregious. Or, at the very least, calls into question the judgement of those who signed that 2004 contract.

   Hager’s 2004 contract was known to be her last before retirement. From Illinoisisbroke.com: The final suggestion involves controlling rate-of-pay spikes given because a person has announced his retirement. This is a mechanism used sometimes by school districts.

   When schools allow such a spike, the resulting higher pension cost is transferred to every taxpayer in Illinois. This is because the basic teacher’s pension is not funded by the local school districts; it is funded by the state’s taxpayers (although the local districts pay for certain pension “sweeteners.”)

   Utah’s retirement systems actually treats pension spiking, which it defines as “multiple years”, as fraud and abuse. Maybe Illinois could learn something from them.

   Posted to Pension Spiking: A Matter of Public Record - Highland Park & Highwood

7. Ed Brill wrote 1 year ago

   So how would you explain that the current District 112 Superintendent (Behlow) makes more than Hager did after just three years in the district – $245,000? (Same website) He has only 9 years experience.

   Is the current board involved in pension spiking, or is this just the competitive salary needed to attract the best talent to Highland Park?

   You have a lot of data here but I really can’t figure out how you back up the assertion that this is “spiking” (which is defined as a substantial increase in the final year of employment, vs. a gradual set of increases). I don’t recall you or anyone complaining about Hager’s salary during the last five years of her employment, and to your point, all of this was publicly documented.

   Posted to Pension Spiking: A Matter of Public Record - Highland Park & Highwood

8. Ed Brill wrote 1 year ago

   @Ima, anyone can write for TribLocal; there’s no contract or compensation there. My profile correctly indicates I live in Highland Park. I’ve previously disclosed that my residence is in the Fort Sheridan subdivision as well.

   If you are certain I stand to gain financially from the golf course, you must know a lot more about real estate than I do.

   Posted to BRILLIANT FLASHES: A golf course? In an election year? In a down economy? - Highland Park & Highwood

9. Ed Brill wrote 1 year ago

   Thanks for your comment. You assert that we need the red light camera in Highland Park because it will reduce fatalities — but do not provide data on fatalities at that intersection (I am not sure of the data, but my personal recollection is that there have not been any since the Edens reconfiguration). The City of Highland Park has also not provided specific statistics regarding this intersection (Chief Shafer and I have been in correspondence since this article appeared online).

   If red light cameras do not reduce the number of collisions (see your quoted text), then what is the point? What are the statistics on near-misses — how do we know there are more or less of those?

   This is already a complicated intersection, and adding red light cameras and out-of-town travelers to the mix adds more to the complexity. Chief Shafer reports that Gurnee has a red light camera on US41, so this isn’t the first one. But I believe the questions are still unresolved as to the efficacy, and this doesn’t seem to me to be the place to experiment.

   Posted to BRILLIANT FLASHES: The wrong kind of flashes at US41 and Park Avenue West - Highland Park & Highwood

10. Ed Brill wrote 2 years ago

    Interesting, that DD was once before Kosher too: I can’t remember how long ago it was, but I am certain that the Dempster Dunkin’ Donuts was Kosher at one point in its past. Might have been 20 years ago though.

    Posted to North Shore’s Only Kosher Dunkin’ Donuts to Celebrate Grand Opening April 13 - Skokie