An Illinois firefighters’ union is suing a city for alleged insurance tax violations. The Crystal Lake, Ill., firefighters’ union filed a complaint against the city earlier this month alleging that it refused to release money from the Foreign Fire Insurance Tax Fund to the Foreign Fire Insurance Tax (FFIT) Board. Foreign fire insurance tax is imposed on out-of-state insurance companies.
Now the union has amended the complaint to include allegations that city officials retaliated against the union and one of its members after he tried to alert authorities about illegal activity.
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The union said that city officials violated the law by zeroing out the foreign fire insurance tax, which collected more than $60,000 per year. FFIT Board member Brian Marino informed the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Crystal Lake Police Department of the city’s activities, believing city officials to have violated laws against criminal theft and civil conversion, according to a report by the
Northwest Herald.
The firefighters’ union alleges that the city retaliated against the FFIT Board and union members for Marino’s whistleblowing. The union said the city’s revision of its foreign fire insurance tax ordinance retaliated against it by intending to curtail the FFIT Board’s authority and eliminating its funding. The union also accused Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Chief Paul DeRaedt of retaliating against Marino by reducing his performance score and removing from his evaluation any positive language about his work with the FFIT Board. The complaint also alleges that Marino’s score on a promotion exam was reduced.
The original dispute stems from a request by the FFIT Board to use foreign fire tax funds for expenses that would personally benefit firefighters, according to the Herald. Those expenses included Fitbits, duffel bags, health club memberships and day-care services.
Instead, the city council voted in August to repeal the tax and use the remaining money in the fund until it was depleted, the
Herald reported.
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