More than 20 Peoria County employees are signed up for a voluntary retirement program.
The people signed-up so far will close the County's goal for personnel reductions to within $300,000. Board member Mike Phelan says the retirement plan has short term benefits, but more is needed:
“Fee increases only help for one year. Those ongoing structural deficits have not yet, in my opinion, been addressed.”
Phelan says he's against backfilling positions slated for retirement. County staff say it’s too early to assess if any positions will need to be backfilled. The County Board votes on the budget later this week.