By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – State Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, said the $245 million it might take to build a new veterans facility is a ‘huge expense’ and would take lots of cooperation to make a new facility happen.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Barickman on WJBC.
“We don’t have 245 million or more lying around.” Barickman said. “Obviously, it’s got to come from somewhere.
“Hopefully we get some cooperation from the federal government from our two sitting U.S. Senators (Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth) who are Democrats. That help can help get this done.”
Barickman told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin a new veterans home might also spark discussion of a new capital bill, which Illinois hasn’t had for a decade. Barickman said he’d be open to considering a gas tax increase, one idea that’s been explored to pay for it.
Golden parachutes
All governments in Illinois would be limited in giving out so-called golden parachutes with a bill now headed to the House. A measure which has passed the Senate would cap the amount of time governments could pay in a severance agreement to no more than a 20-week payout.
Barickman said it’s a sensible move to stop these eye-popping pension deals.
“This was a good and necessary thing to do,” Barickman declared.
Recent examples from Northern Illinois and the College of DuPage had former administrators getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in payouts in severance payments. Timothy Flanagan got $480,000 after Illinois State fired him as president in 2014.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
Illinois Radio Network contributed to this report.
