Raises for nonunion county personnel could be in the future

Fresh off giving raises to some unionized Kane County employees, county board members said Tuesday they might be willing to approve pay hikes for nonunion employees as well.

County board members approved 2 percent pay raises for the current year and subsequent two years for a group of union employees in the transportation division earlier this month. But it was a bit of a surprise when transportation staff proposed a 2 percent raise for the nonunion employees in presenting the department’s budget Tuesday.

County board members have not approved nonunion raises in several years in response to the poor economy. They’ve only grudgingly given raises to union workers, such as sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers, only through arbitration. But the transportation division trimmed other expenses in order to budget for the raises. A 2 percent increase for transportation staff next fiscal year would mean adding about $45,000 in salary costs. Thanks to a mild winter the transportation department had a bunch of leftover road salt. That means it doesn’t have to spend as much on salt this year. That, combined with some other nondetailed commodity cuts, carved out room in the budget to allow for the raises without an overall operations budget increase.

“If a department is able to provide wage and salary adjustments and still be able to provide a flat budget, I would be supportive of that,” county board member Mike Donahue said.

Finance Committee Chairman Jim Mitchell agreed. He said he’d like the county board to approve a 2 percent raise for all nonunion employees. But the money must be found to do that first.

Transportation Committee Chairman Cathy Hurlbut said she wasn’t ready to sign off on raises for the transportation division. The fear of giving a raise this year, based on salt savings, would be realized if the area endured a hard winter that could put costs for salt, overtime and pothole repairs right back where they were for the 2010/2011 winter. That means the county would have to eat the salary increases in 2014 or find cuts elsewhere.

The finance committee will take on the issue of raises during the budget process. Mitchell said some overall position on raises will be the most likely path to give direction to departments in plotting their revenues and expenses for next year.