Come December, the wages for Kane County’s treasurer and county clerk positions are set to remain unchanged, after the county board failed to approve discussed salary hikes in sufficient time before the new terms for these posts are set to begin following the fall election.
Talk of raising these officials’ pay came up at an ad hoc committee meeting of the Kane County Board on June 2, which was chaired by board member Deborah Allan and included members Bill Lenert and Jarett Sanchez.
The committee was set to review the county’s compensation for its sheriff, treasurer and county clerk — all seats which are up for election in November.
Pay for the county sheriff is indirectly set by the state, in that it must not be less than 80% of the salary set for the county state’s attorney, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office confirmed in an email to The Beacon-News. Kane County’s code sets the sheriff’s salary and therefore provides for this requirement, the office said, meaning further action by the county board is not needed to increase the sheriff’s pay.
The situation is different, however, for the county clerk and treasurer.
Illinois law authorizes the county board to set the salaries for certain elected officials, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office.
Jamie Lobrillo, the county’s executive director of human resources, said at the meeting that salaries for these officials have to be set before they are elected and must be fixed for the term. However, Lobrillo explained, the county has, in the past, included a 2% increase annually in similar approvals.
That’s what the board did in 2024, when the county circuit clerk, recorder, auditor and coroner positions all got raises following the 2024 election. Those raises — which were approved by the board in June 2024, to take effect in the December following the election — matched the salaries for the treasurer and county clerk, which were last changed in 2022.
At the recent meeting, Allan noted that the county has, in recent years, paid the county clerk and treasurer — as well as officials like the county’s auditor, recorder and coroner — the same amount.
The current salary for these roles is set at $111,426, according to Allan.
As they discussed potential raises, Sanchez suggested committee members look at what’s been done in the past to inform their decision and, after gathering input, could have another meeting, at which the group could make a final recommendation.
State law, however, says that officials’ salaries cannot be changed by the county during the respective term for each office and must be fixed at least 180 days before the beginning of an office’s term.
So the committee determined that the raises need to be approved earlier than the next Kane County Board meeting, which is set for July.
Following some discussion at the meeting, the committee ultimately agreed on a recommendation to make the salary for the officials elected in November start at $113,654 in December, and then be raised to $115,927 the following year — in line with the 2% raises the other offices are set to get. From there, the committee decided to recommend 2.5% raises in the third and fourth years of the officials’ terms.
But the state law stipulating that officials’ salaries must be fixed at least 180 days before the beginning of an office’s term means that the salaries for the offices can’t be changed at this point, the State’s Attorney’s Office confirmed in an email, given that Illinois law provides that the terms of the county clerk and county treasurer begin on Dec. 1.
Essentially, the county “missed the window” to approve the raises, Allan explained at the county board’s meeting on June 9.
“If whoever gets elected chooses to serve, they will be paid at the same rate” that the position has now, she said.
“I’m sorry to the people who get elected,” she said at the board meeting.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
