Mount Prospect gives manager 5 percent raise, $20,000 bonus
The Mount Prospect village board rewarded Village Manager Michael Cassady with a 5 percent pay hike and $20,000 performance bonus Wednesday for what leaders called his "successful implementation" of critical priorities in the community's strategic plan.
With the increase, Cassady will earn $214,987 this year, according to the village. The terms of the agreement were nailed down in a closed village board session Dec. 19 and approved unanimously by trustees Wednesday.
"When we set the goals initially, we said, 'Boy, it will be amazing if he even comes close,'" Trustee Richard Rogers said. "And he has so far exceeded what we had set before him. We have a hard time holding him down."
But while the vote was unanimous, Trustee William Grossi expressed concern about the financial impact on the village.
"Mike has done an excellent job. But as a person who really wants to look after the money of the citizens of Mount Prospect, I kind of wonder where we are going to go if he continues to do this," Grossi said. "We can't give this type of compensation every year."
Mayor Arlene Juracek said the raise and bonus were a reward for meeting and exceeding the goals set for Cassady when he was hired in 2015, as well as goals in the village's strategic plan.
Those included attracting a high-quality developer for the Central and Main redevelopment project, the relocation of longtime Mount Prospect business Parenti & Raffaelli from downtown to the Kensington Business Center, completion of a space needs study for the police and fire headquarters, and redevelopment of the Busse Triangle property at the intersection of Main Street and Northwest Highway.
Cassady also was praised for the annexation of 223 acres on the south side of Mount Prospect, adding $67.2 million in equalized assessed value to the village.
"I really appreciate the support from the board," Cassady said Wednesday. "You have given us the tools to do a lot of great things in a couple of years. And I am definitely bullish on 2018. I think we're going to start seeing some of the visual evidence of our hard work in the last two years really coming to fruition."
Juracek said Cassady's compensation package makes him the sixth-highest paid among top administrators in 24 comparable communities.
"There is a competitive market for village managers. As good as he is, there are others who think he is good for them as well," she said.
Trustee Paul Hoefert also defended the compensation package.
"If you look at just what happened with annexations last year, it more than pays for Mr. Cassady's increase," he said. "We have been trying to annex those properties for 30 or 40 years."