Naperville council’s benefit package outstrips its wages

As staff members begin preparing Naperville’s fiscal 2012 budget, the very same council members who eventually will approve the spending plan are costing the city more than $250,000 in annual wages and benefits.

In fact, the eight councilmen and Mayor George Pradel actually are receiving more in benefits than in pay, according to documents obtained by the Daily Herald through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Naperville currently pays a total of $123,888.43 in council member benefits compared to $122,644.60 in wages, according to the documents. Each councilman also receives a $1,200 annual stipend to cover cellphone and home Internet costs.

Finance Director Karen DeAngelis said the city’s most expensive benefit is the cost for medical and dental coverage for those who choose to participate.

“If you were to go back and look at a decade ago, you would see much lower benefit costs, but health care is skyrocketing, so the value is much greater than it used to be,” DeAngelis said. “And in the case of the councilmen, they make a part-time wage ... but their position comes with a full-time benefit equivalent package.”

Within the past month, all but two councilmen declined a 3 percent cost-of-living wage increase. But the two who took the roughly $315 annual pay boost, Robert Fieseler and Paul Hinterlong, also are the only two who declined the medical and dental benefits offered by the city at a 15 percent premium.

Meanwhile the city’s two newest councilmen, Steve Chirico and Joe McElroy, each receive the largest benefit packages valued at $20,036 in addition to their $11,687 annual salary. Both councilmen, who were elected this spring, defended their earnings, saying the time they put into the job is worth their associated costs.

Without the perks, Chirico said, he’s afraid of the type of candidates the city could see running for office.

“In my opinion the compensation offered is fair for the tremendous amount of work we do. And as a business owner, I do not think I would be able to do this job if not for the compensation,” he said. “If you take this package away, I’m afraid you’re going to have mostly independently wealthy people run. There’s a lot of talent in Naperville and to get those people to spend that time, we’ve got to make it worth their while.”

Councilman Kenn Miller, however, said he had no idea the benefits were offered when he began his 2005 run. But he’s glad they were, and he’s taking advantage of them because his employer does not supply them. In addition to his $12,613.20 wages and stipend, the city also pays $13,873 for Miller’s health care.

“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: I absolutely think it’s a fair price for each household to support me at 48 cents to 50 cents a year,” he said. “For as much time and effort as I put in, that’s certainly a fair price to pay.”

McElroy agrees, saying he never submits for reimbursements for the miles and hours he spends “checking things out.”

Paul Hinterlong, the city’s lowest paid councilman with a salary and benefit total of $14,040, said he gets his health and dental benefits from his employer. He doesn’t believe it’s “appropriate” for councilmen to “be a burden or stress on the city’s health plan.”

“I wanted to join the city council to give back to the city, not take from it,” Hinterlong said. “I’ve actually had other candidates tell me they were running strictly for the benefits, and that’s just wrong.”

McElroy said the fact Fieseler and Hinterlong are the only two not taking the health care benefits proves the necessity.

“I’m glad life is treating them well enough that they can afford to leave something like that on the table,” McElroy said. “I’m not leaving anything on the table.”

According to Compensation and Benefits Manager Patti Magnus, the city council established a mayoral salary and benefits package in 1983. City council minutes from 1985 show the council approved annual vacation and holiday pay, sick leave and medical benefits in accordance with established city policy. One year later a resolution was passed that codifies council salaries and health benefits.