Glen Ellyn re-evaluating village salaries

Glen Ellyn leaders hired consultants Monday night to conduct a salary survey and update job descriptions of those employed by the village.

The study will go through every position offered by the village, run through its description and duties and evaluate each salary. The study should begin this month, and McGrath Consulting Group Inc. of Wonder Lake will take up to five months to complete the work.

"The study is evaluating the responsibilities of each position and then looking at our comparable communities and how they compensate positions that are equivalent in responsibilities," Deputy Village Manager Curt Barrett said.

While many communities conduct the study annually, Glen Ellyn last reviewed its salaries and jobs in 2001.

Barrett said that in 2001 some high salaries were frozen until they caught up with the correct amount, and low salaries were adjusted accordingly.

"It's time to do that due diligence and check where we are in the market that we're competing with," he said. "We're talking about public dollars here, and we also have to keep in mind the aspect of being able to recruit quality personnel and retain them."

In the past several years, other communities have identified top-notch Glen Ellyn employees, offered more money and successfully recruited them.

"If you're not going to keep up with the market, you're going to start losing people," Barrett said. "We've got to do our homework, and that's one of the reasons we want to recruit some consultants who have expertise in this type of a survey."

Village Manager Steve Jones said that over time, jobs change a bit and it's important to keep a competitive salary structure.

"We have waited a long time between these studies," Jones said. "If we do it more regularly, we probably won't have a spike like we have now."