Elk Grove Village employees get raises May 1

After a year of austerity, Elk Grove Village is rewarding its employees with pay increases.

The village’s 205 union employees and 105 nonunion workers voluntarily took a pay freeze, saving the village $850,000 in the current fiscal year ending Saturday. Their wages last increased in May 2009.

Now, the village board has approved raises for nonunion employees as part of a $40 million operating budget for 2011-2012. All nonunion employees, including rank and file and management, will receive 2.25 percent increases in their base pay, and up to an additional 1 percent merit increase, as of Sunday, May 1.

Union employees — firefighters, public works and police — will get a 3.25 percent pay raise May 1 as guaranteed by their respective contracts, which they waived in 2010.

“Our employees stepped up for us and we appreciate what they did,” Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said.

Employees who have been on the job 15, 20 and 25 years also will see their annual one-time longevity bonus checks increase by $25. The longevity bonus was put in place nearly 40 years ago as inducement to keep trained employees, Johnson said.

Johnson said the cutbacks officials made this year helped put the village on stronger financial footing.

“We reduced our staffing by 12 percent — 32 employee positions — through attrition, consolidation of jobs,” Johnson said, adding the village has never laid off an employee.

“It gave us significant savings. We call it a right sizing of government. We don’t call it downsizing.”

The village’s health department was absorbed by other village departments, and the community service department merged with the police department.

“All of the services are still being provided, the management is picked up by other departments, which allows us not to have a department head,” Johnson said.

Officials also reduced special events spending, and deferred large purchases and replacing of aging equipment.

“We’ve been trying to get more out of what we have,” Johnson said. “We’re cutting back slowly on overtime when we can, but if there’s something that’s critical we’re doing it.”

The village’s total budget decreased from $104 million to $84 million, and the operating budget has gone down from $42 million to $40 million in the last three years.

The village presently is in negotiations with its police union on a new contract. The current contract expires Saturday. The fire and public works unions have a year remaining on their contracts.

“Obviously, especially in light of what the state is proposing, we have to remain vigilant,” Johnson said. “No one is 100 percent out of the woods in this economy.”