Article updated: 3/6/2011 9:55 AM

Transit board seats give elected officials a second public paycheck

Daily Herald: On Guard

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Members of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board make $ 31,426 a year, even if they already receive other taxpayer-funded salaries, like Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, left, and Naperville Mayor George Pradel, second from right.

Bev Horne | Staff Photographer

Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke said being a Pace director is time-consuming and worth the $10,000 annual pay. His mayor’s job pays him $ 28,356.

“I don’t think people should work for nothing,” said Naperville Mayor George A Pradel, whose $ 31,426 yearly payment and health benefits as an Illinois Toll Highway Authority director are on top of his $ 28,533 mayor’s pay.

Aurora Mayor Thomas Weisner makes $ 31,426 a year as an Illinois State Toll Highway Authority director as well as his $ 111,840 salary for the full-time job as Aurora’s top administrator. “My experience as mayor benefits the tollway and vice versa, but compensation is not the key issue at all,” he said.

Jan Carlson of Batavia is paid $ 25,000 a year as an RTA director while also getting a $ 53, 427 annual pension from his former position as Kane County court clerk.

Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson is paid $ 10,000 a year and receives health benefits for his position as a Pace director. “I serve on a number of unpaid committees that I take the expertise I gain from being on the Pace board to,” said Larson, whose mayoral salary is $ 20,578.

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Nearly two dozen current and former suburban officials already collecting pay or pensions are among those costing taxpayers more than $1 million a year in salaries or health-care benefits for serving on transit boards, a Daily Herald analysis shows.

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