Will County Board members on Thursday approved pay hikes for themselves and three other elected officials, including a $21,000-a-year raise for the sheriff.
The sheriff’s pay goes from $68,000 to $89,000, effective Dec. 1, with annual increases that would put him at $95,000 by 2001.
The board also boosted the salaries of the county clerk and treasurer to $78,000 from the current $68,000. Those salaries also go into effect Dec. 1. The clerk’s and treasurer’s pay would rise in $2,000 annual increments to $84,000 in the year 2001.
While discussing the raises in the board’s Insurance and Personnel and Executive Committees, officials said the sheriff’s increase was intended to recognize the round-the-clock responsibilities of the sheriff and to keep pace with pay in other counties.
The annual salaries of the county executive, auditor, recorder, coroner and circuit clerk were adjusted before their elections two years ago.
The salaries of the state’s attorney and regional superintendent of schools are set by state law.
The board also raised the pay for its members to $18,000 beginning in the year 2000. Now, some board members are paid $13,000 while others make $17,000 under a two-tier pay plan created when raises were approved two years ago for some board members.
Because state law forbids pay raises for officials during their current terms, the earlier raises applied only to board members facing election at the time.
The double pay scale will be eliminated Dec. 1, when pay for all County Board members goes to $17,500 under a resolution approved two years ago.
The hike to $18,000 in the year 2000 will be followed by a $500 increase the next year, setting the stage for another review in 2002, when a census-driven redistricting takes place and all 27 board members stand for election at the same time.
Mary Ann Gearhart (R-Crete), who chairs the board’s executive Committee, said a proposal to pay an additional fee to board members who chair committees is still under study.
“We are going to find out what other boards in this area do,” Gearhart said.
County Board member Walter Adamic (D-Joliet) balked at the raises.
“I feel like we are just sort of helping ourselves,” said Adamic, who favors establishing an independent panel to recommend pay scales.
“I know we have to vote on it but I would feel better if someone other than us looked at what was reasonable,” said Adamic, who chose not to cast a vote on the County Board raises.
County Board member James Moustis (R-Frankfort) who chairs the Insurance and Personnel Committee that originated the proposal, said that by merely extending the schedule of $500 annual increases for County Board members until 2002, the board is targeting the two-tier system.
“That was something that everybody wanted very much to get rid of,” Moustis said. “It made no sense.”
Under state law, raises can be approved no fewer than six months before an election, creating a deadline in May for raises to officeholders facing a vote this November.
The board also approved a three-year contract granting raises for sheriff’s deputies. The pact with Local 2961 calls for pay increases totaling 12 percent over the life of the contract.
In other action, the board approved landmark status for the 85-year-old Beecher Mausoleum on the southeast edge of the county. The action coincides with a private effort to restore the building, next to St. Luke’s Cemetery in unincorporated Washington Township.
