E. Dundee allowance way to save or back-door pay boost?

East Dundee village officials say a $50-per-month technology allowance trustees approved earlier this month is a legitimate reimbursement that saves taxpayers thousands of dollars.

But a former village president says the fee is unnecessary and amounts to a $600 pay increase for the village president, trustees and clerk, a year after the board purchased laptops for all elected officials.

At their Nov. 5 board meeting, trustees passed an ordinance related to electronic services for elected officials.

The ordinance allocates $50 per month per trustee for the use of electronic devices for village business, including electronic hardware, software and DSL communications.

But Jerry Bartels, village president from May 2005 to last May, called the fee a "manufactured situation" because the village in 2006 spent between $7,000 and $10,000 on laptops and software for elected officials.

"It is odd now a year later that the laptop program is no longer necessary," said Bartels, who voted against the laptop purchases. "Instead they are providing money for trustees to buy their own laptops."

Bartels said the fee costs residents an extra $4,200 a year.

"Given the economic climate in East Dundee, it is absolutely wrong for them to do that," Bartels said. "They can put whatever spin they want on it, but it is a pay increase."

Village officials disagreed.

Village Administrator Frank Koehler said although the initial idea was to provide elected officials with village-issued laptops, the program proved inconvenient for some board members since the laptops were restricted to use for village business.

Only elected officials who do not use a village-issued laptop are eligible for the reimbursement, village officials said.

"The technology fee provides reimbursement if an elected official chooses to purchase a laptop on their own," Koehler said. "Some trustees had to carry two laptops. This makes it more convenient for personal use and they can still access the village network to download documents."

Furthermore, Village President Dan O'Leary said, providing documents electronically saves the village thousands of dollars.

O'Leary estimated the village spends about $880 per trustee a year on printing costs of board packets alone, for a total of about $6,160 per year.

Add another $6,000 for personnel costs to collate the packets and that total exceeds $12,000, O'Leary said.

"There are five trustees who are taking advantage of the reimbursement," O'Leary said. "It costs the village less than $4,200 a year since not everyone is taking advantage of it."