Carpentersville manager Rooney gets 5.5 percent raise
Carpentersville village leaders approved a 5.5 percent pay raise for Village Manager Mark Rooney, part of a roughly $46 million budget of expenditures for the remaining eight months of this year, which officials say includes no staffing or service cuts.
Rooney's yearly salary goes up from $158,000 to roughly $167,000 retroactive to Jan. 1. He also gets five more vacation days (25 in total) and guarantees nine months of severance pay that equals his current pay, plus fringe benefits, if he is fired after five years of service for any reason other than being convicted of a felony.
Rooney said the salary increase is comparable to what managers/administrators of neighboring communities receive.
"I'm still nine out of 10 in the ranking of salaries (of managers)," Rooney said. "I just bumped ahead of Lake in the Hills village manager."
Rooney received a similar salary increase last year, as did a few other department heads.
Chris Scholl, a firefighter who ran unsuccessfully for the village board in April, said Rooney's pay hike is "fiscally irresponsible at a time when the village is talking about deficits."
"What concerns me is also that this contract spells out his severance package, and severance packages should be dealt with at the time for severance and based upon the reasons for that severance," Scholl said. "The taxpayers should not be on the hook for (paying) $125,000 plus the fringe benefits ... he will also be compensated for unused vacation time and unused sick leave, which no employees get in the village."
Rooney said the increases are justified by how much money the village has saved through his leadership.
"I had a good year last year," Rooney said. "We successfully got a $400,000 OSLAD (Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development Program) grant and a U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) grant of $628,000. Wal-Mart Supercenter successfully coming to town is a pretty significant event, which will be $1 million in sales tax (revenue) every year."
The Wal-Mart project - targeted for 26 acres along Lake Marian Road and Route 25 - is a nearly $30 million development, which includes a $4.3 million village incentive funded through a special taxing district to help with site improvements, such as the widening and signalization of Lake Marian Road, said Joe Wade, assistant village manager.
Construction of the supercenter is expected to begin this summer and open by fall of 2016, officials said.
The village seems to have turned the corner after eliminating 34 positions during the past four years through layoffs, consolidation, reorganization, retirements and attrition. No personnel cuts are in this budget, Rooney said.
"We save on an annual basis on salary and health care costs of over $1.5 million," Rooney said.
The village also has saved roughly $195,000 by refinancing an IEPA loan earlier this year, and nearly $100,000 in yearly debt service when borrowing $10 million for infrastructure improvements that will be completed over four years, he added.
The 2015 budget includes a salary increase of 1 percent for public works employees, and 3 percent for police and firefighters. On average, personnel costs increased 2.2 percent, and health insurance costs increased 2.5 percent, Finance Director Hitesh Desai said.
The village will be spending nearly $10 million on water and sewer improvements, and $3.5 million on infrastructure projects this year, and roughly $2 million on water main and road improvements related to the Wal-Mart project, in addition to the business incentive.
Starting next year, Carpentersville will follow a calendar year budget once the tax levy is determined in December, officials said.