October 2025 | Issue 10

2025 Executive Trustee Election Update

At the end of this year, there are three Trustees that will have their terms of office on the Board of Trustees expire. Candidates had the opportunity to submit the required petitions and paperwork to run for a two-, three-, or five-year term.

Vote for Executive Trustee for 3-Year Term

IMRF employers will elect one Executive Trustee for a three-year term of office, which will run from January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2028.

Candidates for the Executive Trustee position are Megan Gove, Director for the Talcott Free Library District and Peter J. Stefan, Finance Director/Treasurer for the Village of Lake in the Hills.

Learn more about the candidates here.

How and When to Vote

Election packets containing candidate biographies, instructions, and the appropriate ballot are being mailed to all IMRF employers. Follow the instructions in the election packet to cast your vote.

Completed ballots must be returned to IMRF by 4:30 PM CST on Thursday, December 11, 2025.

When to Expect Results

Election results will be certified by the Board of Trustees and be announced after the Board meeting on December 19, 2025.

Returning Executive Trustees

Gwen Henry, DuPage County Treasurer, (unopposed) will serve a two-year term, from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2027.

Learn more about Gwen here.

Brian Townsend, Village Manager for the Village of Schaumburg, (unopposed) will serve a 5-year term on the Board from January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2030.

Learn more about Brian here.

Procedures for Reaching Wage Caps

Below is some important information to keep in mind about the Tier 2 Wage Cap as the end of the calendar year nears:

The wage cap for 2025 is $127,283.01.
The wage cap is effective for each calendar year, regardless of the fiscal year of the employer.
When you have a Tier 2 member who reaches the wage cap, you will receive a message when you validate your monthly wage report.
In the month the member meets the wage cap, you will report all wages, including those over the cap, but will only make member and employer contributions up to the wage-capped amount.
Voluntary Additional Contributions (VAC) will also only be made on wages up to the wage cap, based on the member’s elected contribution percentage.
After that you will continue to report the member’s wages, but you will not withhold any contributions for the rest of the calendar year.

Upcoming Employer Access Workshops

Following feedback from the Employer Survey, IMRF has developed additional Employer Access Workshops. These workshops will feature demonstrations of specific processes that employers expressed interest in.

Participants are encouraged to ask questions during the presentation. The questions will only be viewed by IMRF staff leading the discussion to answer as they walk through the demonstration.

Disability Data Collections

Tuesday, October 14 from 11 AM to noon

Employer Documentation

Tuesday, October 28 from 11 AM to noon

National Retirement

Security Month

October is National Retirement Security Month. Please share this flier with your IMRF employees and share the ways IMRF can help them plan for their future retirement.

Click here to learn more about the retirement planning resources available to IMRF members.

Upcoming Authorized Agent Webinars

IMRF offers online webinars for Authorized Agents to learn more about IMRF procedures, and how the fund is administered.

IMPORTANT NOTE: By law, all new Authorized Agents must attend Authorized Agent training within three months of appointment.

There are two modules to complete:

Module 1: Introduction, Enrollment, Wage Reporting, and Termination
Module 2: IMRF Benefits, Employer Rates, and Legislation

October

Module 2: Wednesday, October 22

November

Module 1: Wednesday, November 5
Module 2: Wednesday, November 19

December

Module 1: Wednesday, December 3
Module 2: Wednesday, December 17

All sessions run 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM.

Webinar Structure

This 2-part webinar series prepares IMRF Authorized Agents to perform common IMRF tasks.

Each webinar stands alone, and you can attend them in either order. Canceling your registration from just one module is not permitted.

Note: To receive a completion certificate, you must attend the online session live. Watching a recording at a later date will not result in a certificate of completion.

Employer Access Learning Center

Visit IMRF's Employer Access Learning Center for training materials to help you complete your daily tasks. Instructions are available as PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, and MP4 videos.

Employer Access Management

Learn how to set up and remove your staff's Employer Access

Wage Report Procedures

Instructions to create and submit your monthly wage reports

Wage Adjustments Procedures

View how to make individual or bulk wage adjustments

Manage Member Events

See how to enroll or terminate employees, apply for benefits, and more

Documents and Reports

Learn how to search, view, and generate documents and reports

Pay Online Procedure

Learn how to make payments to IMRF and view your account summary

Find Important Information

Learn how to find your employer rate and other annual documentation

Secure Messages

Instructions on how to send secure messages to IMRF through Employer Access

Employer Access FAQs

View commonly asked questions about navigating Employer Access and other processes

Employer Checklists

View checklists for common tasks including, enrolling and terminating employees and applying for benefits

Stay Connected with IMRF!

Visit IMRF's Website

Employer Access

Employer Digest Archive

2211 York Rd., Ste. 500

Oak Brook, IL 60523-2337 (Main Office)

3000 Professional Dr., Ste. 101, Springfield, IL 62703

Member-only Phone: 1-800-ASK-IMRF (275-4673)

Employer Contact Center: 1-800-728-7971

You are receiving this email because you have been identified as an Employer Contact of IMRF. As such, you cannot opt out of receiving this email. To update your Employer Contact information, log in to your Employer Access account.