Politics & Government

Village Initiated Closer Look Into Former Police Chief's Pension

The board filed a request with the Illinois Department of Insurance inquiring about former police chief Rob Piscia's pension qualifications.

An examination into pension contributions by former police chief Rob Piscia began with the village pension board, according to Village Administrator Jerry Ducay.

The Frankfort Police Pension Board turned to the Illinois Department of Insurance to determine whether Piscia should have contributed to pension funds in recent years.

The department stated that Piscia was ineligible for participation in the board pension program, following a promotion in 2010. Piscia recently withdrew his pension credits claim and requested a pension contribution refund.

Find out what's happening in Frankfortwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Piscia contributed to the police pension fund from Sept. 2010 to Sept. 2012, after he was promoted from police chief to assistant village administrator. The Department of Insurance issued its advisory in May, stating that Piscia should have ended his fund participation in Sept. 2010, when he left the police department.

The Chicago Tribune reported that several Frankfort police officers also expressed concern regarding Piscia’s contributions in a letter submitted to the pension board in July.

Find out what's happening in Frankfortwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Piscia withdrew his pension credits claim in mid-September, the Tribune reported. He also entered a refund request for the $23,709 that he contributed to the pension fund during the last two years, which was approved by the pension board on Oct. 25.

By ceasing his pension fund participation in 2010 instead of 2012, Piscia lost approximately $9,000 per year from his future pension, according to calculations from the Chicago Tribune. Without those two years of pension credit, his future pension dropped from approximately $75,000 per year to $66,000 per year.

According to Ducay, the police pension board monitors all pension contributions and did not initially dispute Piscia’s continued fund contributions following his job change in September 2010.

“The call was the pension board’s,” said Ducay. “Since there was no dispute by the pension board, I assumed that it was a legitimate contribution.”

Multiple calls to Piscia and to the pension board were unreturned.

A representative from the Department of Insurance recently addressed the issue in an email to Patch.

“With the appointment of a new police chief, Mr. Piscia no longer served as an active police officer and was ineligible for participation,” said the Department of Insurance.

Because Piscia is no longer contributing to the police pension fund, he is now eligible to become vested in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF), Ducay said. If he becomes vested in the IMRF, Piscia could collect on two pensions following his retirement.

Piscia will become vested in the IMRF after 10 years of contributing to the fund, said Ducay. He can begin collecting from the IMRF at 60. In 2025, Piscia will be eligible to collect 25 percent on his current salary, or approximately $35,000 per year.

According to Ducay, Piscia cannot collect on his police or IMRF pension while he is a government employee. However, he can collect on both pensions upon retirement, the sum of which will total approximately $101,000 annually.

Get news alerts and Facebook updates from these Lincoln-Way Patch sites:


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here