McHenry County Salary Envy

Over the years, McHenry County politicians have done their best to turn McHenry County into DuPage County.

The big recession threw up a roadblock.

We are no longer the fastest growing county in Illinois as we were three or four decades in a row.

Now comes the Suburban Life reporting on current and future salaries of DuPage County officials:

Fiscal Year 2015 salary vs. Fiscal Year 2018 salary

  • County board members: $50,079 / $52,103
  • Chairman: $126,450 / $131,559
  • Regional superintendent of Schools: $31,955 / $33,246  [Most of this salary is paid by the State]
  • Treasurer: $139,835 / $145,485
  • Clerk: $139,835 / $145,485
  • Sheriff: $161,573 / $168,100

Stipend cuts

  • $15,000 for supervisor of safety (county sheriff)
  • $6,500 for liquor commissioner (board chairman)
  • $3,150 for secretary to liquor commissioner (county clerk)

= = = = =
McHenry County Board members get paid a bit more than $20,000 per year, plus health and life insurance, plus pension and Social Security that can add up to over $40,000 per year.

You can find the salaries of countywide officials here. Additional information can be found here.

DuPage County Board members take home more than twice as much:

Chairman

CroninDan Cronin
Chairman

Board Members – District 1

FichtnerPaul Fichtner
Elmhurst

TornatoreSam Tornatore
Bloomingdale

Board Members – District 2

Board Members – District 3

CurranJohn Curran
Woodridge

GrassoGary Grasso
Burr Ridge

KrajewskiBrian Krajewski
Downers Grove

Board Members District 4

GrantAmy Grant
Wheaton

McBrideJR McBride
Glen Ellyn

Board Members – District 5

HealyJames Healy
Naperville

Board Members – District 6

LarsenRobert Larsen
Warrenville

ZayJames Zay
Carol Stream

= = = = =
In addition the Illinois General Assembly provides “stipends” to various countywide elected officials.

I’ve always thought they approached a payoff to keep opponents away.

Of course, in any collar county, what county official would want to take a pay cut to service in the Illinois General Assembly?


Comments

McHenry County Salary Envy — 5 Comments

  1. I personally favor paying our County Board members. In fact, I think all elected officials should be paid. I know this is heresy and not popular, but these folks work hard and I think they deserve some recognition in their pocketbooks.

    What I DON’T favor is making the positions so lucrative at the local level that the positions become a lifestyle. It is for this same reason that I favor term limits.

    So, $20K for our County Board members? I’m okay with that. $50K? I don’t think so. But I would be glad to see our school board members and city council members get, say $5,000 a year. It’s a paltry sum, but it’s a way of saying “Thank you for serving the public.” And, bluntly, it’s such a small amount, it’s just immaterial, budget-wise.

    The one place I think we should pay really big money is to our state legislators. If you make $100,000 or $200,000 a year in your regular job, are you going to risk that to run for state rep? Heck, no! So — with due respect to certain obvious exceptions — who do we get to run for these positions? Millionaires, because the money is irrelevant to them, or people who want to make a career as a legislator, which gives me the heebie-jeebies!

    If it were up to me, I’d pay our State legislators $150,000 a year, but limit them to twelve years. No pension. No retirement benefits. Can’t make a career out of it. But enough dough so regular people might say, “Hey, I’ll run for that job because either (a) it’s a step up from what I’m earning now or (b) it’s close enough that I’m not taking a big haircut if I win.”

    Imagine the kind of people we might attract if they knew going in that they absolutely couldn’t make a career as state legislator, but they could make a decent buck while they were there. Why, we might attract honest, capable people who don’t have a vested interest in bigger government. What a concept!

  2. Steve: In place of raising the salaries for Springfield, how about we limit their sessions to thirty days and NO fall veto session or lame duck sessions??

    DuPage has three times the population of McHenry but McHenry has twice the geographic area. Per capita
    income in DuPage is almost $6,000 higher.

    The following is from the U.S. Census website:

    McHenry County population 2013 est.: 307,409
    McHenry County per capita income: $32,408
    McHenry County square miles: 603.17

    DuPage County population 2013 est.: 932,126
    DuPage County per capita income: $38,398
    DuPage County square miles: 327.50

  3. Texas if it were a stand alone country would be the 12th largest in the world in GDP.

    But somehow the legislature runs this large state on $7200 per year.

    Possible increases pop up rarely, but when they do they get voted down, because there is such an uproar.

    There is definitely a different mindset of what voters will put up with down here and what Illinois Voters will allow Pols to get away with up there.

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