Kane should hold off on raises

Timing is everything.

Many Kane County residents this week opened their property tax bills to find that their home -- devalued and unsellable in this moribund housing market -- is worth more than it was last year, according to township assessors. Which means, of course, that their tax bills are actually higher than they were last year.

An average of 5 percent higher.

At the same time, gasoline prices have hit $4 a gallon, food is becoming more of a luxury every day and all manner of private-sector businesses are laying people off and cutting salaries.

In a time when the rest of us are tightening our belts, is this really the time for public servants to be loosening theirs to accommodate a bigger piece of the pie?

That's what's happening in Kane County.

The county board is contemplating giving raises of $8,600 to $15,000 next year to the county auditor, recorder, circuit clerk, coroner and county board chairman. With an additional $5,000 raise for each of the succeeding three years of their terms.

If raises are to be given to office-seekers after the new office holders are seated, the board must agree on changes in pay at least six months before the election. But it is not required that raises be approved at all.

Market comparisons are done routinely in government to ensure that the county keeps up with the Joneses of other counties. We recognize that Kane County has fallen behind other counties of similar size in paying its elected department heads.

Ken Cornelissen, who led a committee that looked at potential raises, noted: "It's hard to understand a 10-percent raise when people aren't getting raises or are out of work."

He makes sense.

But committee member Paul Lencioni's logic that it's no big deal because the increases only amount to a three-hundredths of a percent increase in the county budget -- or 21 cents per taxpayer -- does not.

The Illinois House last week voted to reject pay increases for its leadership of $7,000 next year, citing, in part, the lagging economy. A panel had recommended cost-of-living increases and raises of 1 percent for lawmakers and 1.5 percent for judges and executive officers, like the governor.

House members voted down the recommendation 94-8. Not a single suburban lawmaker supported the raises.

In happier economic times we'd probably not take issue with the Kane County raises. Sure, it would be nice to pay our leadership commensurate with what other counties are paying. Sure, it would be nice to pay the coroner what the sheriff is being paid here. Part of what is driving these raises is that the other elected department heads -- sheriff, treasurer and county clerk -- received the same raises in 2006. But economic conditions were much better back then.

Sometimes leaders need to look beyond "what's fair is fair" and pay more attention to what's happening outside the county complex.

This is representative government, after all, where our leaders should not be insulated from the pitfalls of their constituents.