The McHenry County Board voted to grant a 2.5-percent merit-based raise to nonunion workers with the assurance that the county could afford that without raising the property tax levy.
Tuesday morning's 14-8 vote took place much earlier than usual as per the new budget policies recently set by the county board.
County board member Jim Heisler said the move gives County Administrator Peter Austin and his staff a good starting point for building the 2012-13 county budget. Last November, board members were split on a last-minute vote about the tax levy two weeks before the start of the new fiscal year.
Austin assured the board that the raises would not hinge on increasing the levy, Heisler said. "I'm sure as heck not going to vote for raising the levy. I'd like to lower it," Heisler said.
The raises, which affect just more than 700 nonunion workers, will amount to a $516,000 expense in the general fund, Austin said. Raises hinge on employees getting a performance rating of at least adequate. Last year, nonunion workers got a 3-percent raise.
"If I'm going to ask for (raises) this early in the budget process, it's because I can afford it," Austin said. "We've done enough budget modeling."
County board member Ersel Schuster, however, believes times are too tough for raises, period.
"It's not fun sitting there saying no, understanding that we have employees who have families. But somewhere we have to be accountable as public officials," she said. "When the public's pocketbooks are dry, the taxes are just killing people."
Others who voted against the raises were county board members Donna Kurtz, Mary McCann, Marc Munaretto, Nick Provenzano, Randall Donley, Diane Evertsen and John Hammerand. Board member Sandra Salgado and board Chairman Ken Koehler were absent.
Heisler said he believes a majority of county board members would vote against raising next year's tax levy. "I haven't polled them all, but I feel like they don't want to raise it," he said.
