No pay raise for Kane County board chairman

The Kane County Board chairman will not get a raise come Dec. 1, but other elected officials will.

The county board voted 12-11 to keep the chairman’s salary the same as it has been since 2013 – $105,328 – the next four years. Board member Rick Williams was absent.

It agreed to raise the county board members’ salaries 20% to $30,000 a year starting Dec. 1, 2026.

It also increased the salaries for the recorder of deeds, the circuit court clerk, the coroner and the auditor, starting Dec. 1.

The salary changes apply to whomever is elected to those positions in November.

An ad hoc community compensation committee had recommended raising the salary for chairman to $130,000 a year.

The coroner, recorder, court clerk and auditor will make what the county treasurer and clerk are paid – $109,242. The auditor and coroner now are paid $88,214, the recorder is paid $89,507 and the clerk is paid $90,655. The pay for these offices has not changed since 2013.

They will get 2% raises in subsequent years.

Board member Jarrett Sanchez had proposed lowering the salary for chairman to $70,000 on the assumption that if the county hires an administrator in the next few years, the duties of board chairman could become largely ceremonial.

Board member Myrna Molina said she didn’t know how the compensation community advisory committee was chosen, that the county board’s elected officials’ salary review ad hoc committee tied on whether to approve the advisory committee’s recommendation and that the process was rushed, taking only two weeks. The advisory committee met May 10.

The full board had to make a decision by June 3 as salary changes have to be made at least 180 days before an election.

She noted the board member increase would equal $120,000 a year at a time when some officials said the county is facing financial difficulty.

“That’s a chunk of change I think you can use elsewhere,” Molina said.

Board member Michelle Gumz said she wanted pay raised so more people could afford to serve on the board, especially if they have to take time off from their regular job to do so. Molina and two other board members said a $5,000 bump would not make much of a difference.

Besides Molina, Mark Davoust, Ron Ford, Mohammad Iqbal, Leslie Juby, Bill Lenert, Anita Lewis, Bill Roth, Monica Silva, Cliff Surges and David Young voted against the measure.

Deborah Allan, Dale Berman, Mavis Bates, Gary Dougherty, Gumz, Mike Kenyon, Chris Kious, Michael Linder, Sanchez, Cherryl Straithman, Bill Tarver and Vern Tepe voted in favor.

Kenyon, Ford and Davoust lost primaries this spring so they will be leaving office at the end of November.

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