The Danville Area Community College Board of Trustees has approved plans for a one-time Voluntary Separation Policy. Any DACC employee, faculty or staff member, with 15 or more years of service, could sign up to leave DACC for a $25,000 payment. Those with 25 or more years of service would receive a $30,000 payment.
DACC president Dr. Stephen Nacco says the motivation for this is to help manage future budgets, as the school would save money in the long run by bringing aboard entry level instructors and staff members to replace long time workers on a much higher pay scale. Dr. Nacco says this will help because there are definite budget challenges in the next few years.
The Thursday evening November 17th DACC Board of Trustees meeting took place at Danville Area Community College’s Hoopeston location.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: When we look at a five year projection; there’s increases in health benefits; and increases particularly in electrical utilities. Utilities that have gone up 20% or more. Just as a hedge, it’s a hedge against future possible deficits.
This will be a one-time option, where DACC staff members who qualify can apply with Human Resources for the Voluntary Separation Policy between December 1st of this year and June 30th of next year. After filing, a staff member would have 90 days for the separation to take effect. Dr. Nacco says this has been done in Illinois at other two-year colleges, and that DACC tried it back in 2015. But this time, DACC will be opening this to all staff members, not just faculty. And with the two different qualification levels this time around, 15 and 25 years, there may be more interest.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: This is stratified based on two different milestones in terms of years of service. And that’s what we think would make it more equitable. And it’s not tied to age, it’s not tied to pensions, it’s tied purely to years of service.
Each application for the Voluntary Separation Policy will be up to individual approval by the DACC Board of Trustees.