Kane board members say nonunion raises are all or nothing
More Kane County Board members came out in favor of raises for nonunion employees Thursday. While not all department heads are actively pushing for salary increases, their employees might get them anyway.
Kane County Recorder Sandy Wegman, Treasurer David Rickert and Supervisor of Assessments Mark Armstrong all presented mostly flat budgets that didn’t include any requests for raises. They indicated the raises aren’t a necessity, but they’ll take them if the county board is willing to authorize the spending increases.
“I did not include a 2 percent cost of living adjustment for salaries,” Armstrong pointed out. “However, I understand there is a proposal out there for raises. I would happily make that pitch, but I don’t know that I’d be telling you something you don’t already know.”
Other departments are calling for the raises. Kane County Chief Information Officer Roger Fahnestock said raises for information technology employees would save the county money in training costs. Fahnestock wants approval for merit raises of up to 3 percent to put a stop to a revolving door of hirings that sometimes leave for private sector jobs after the county trains them.
“I’m hopeful that department employees would look at this plan as a positive effort to retain them,” Fahnestock said.
Most nonunion employees in the county haven’t received a raise since 2008. That’s leading a push for a 2 percent, across-the-board pay raise for nonunion employees in the 2013 budget. County board member Drew Frasz also said there is potential for a 2 percent bonus for nonunion employees being considered for this year’s budget if the money is available. There has been no public discussion about how much either of those plans could cost taxpayers. Discussion on the plan is set for later this month at the next meeting of the board’s Finance Committee.
Frasz said there is a lingering issue of fair compensation between union and nonunion employees that should be addressed.
“Throughout the economic downturn the nonunion employees have beared the brunt of this,” Frasz said. “Meanwhile, the union employees have gotten annual raises pretty much across the board.”