Rolling Meadows' $100,000 secretary loses job

The Rolling Meadows City Council voted not to rehire the city manager's secretary with a 4-3 vote Tuesday.

While some aldermen wanted to keep the experienced employee to help the new city manager, they had a problem with the cost of the person's salary and benefits, which total about $100,000.

"It seems to me we are overpaying across the board," said Alderman James Larsen, who suggested reviewing all executive secretary salaries. "We can't afford this."

Larsen and aldermen Larry Buske, Glenn Adams and John Pitzaferro voted to eliminate the position. Aldermen Tom Rooney, Barb Lusk and Kathy Kwandras wanted to keep the position. Mayor Ken Nelson was not at the meeting.

Lusk said the city should not be ashamed of the secretary's salary and benefit package.

"Government pays well, that's a fact of life," she said. "This is not out of line."

Pitzaferro disagreed.

"Residents are angry and saying we are overpaying people in these positions," he said. "They have a right to be angry."

Rooney said the city council has no one to blame but itself. For years, the council approved regular raises, typically about 3.5 percent a year, he said.

"It's not this individual's fault," Rooney said. "The city council keeps giving raises, which I was not in favor of, and priced the position out of the market."

Before he retired former City Manager Tom Melena asked the city council to exempt his secretary from upcoming layoffs in December. Melena wanted to keep the secretary on the city's payroll but suggested reducing her regular salary and benefit package from $100,000 to about $78,000. Melena proposed his secretary would work four days a week in exchange for the decrease.

On Tuesday, the new city manager, Sarah Phillips, proposed keeping the secretary a full-time employee, but reducing her salary to $57,278, or a total of $78,000 including benefits. The city council didn't go for it.

"It will be difficult, but this was a decision that was made before I got here," said Phillips before Tuesday's meeting. "(The secretary) does a lot of things people don't realize."

On Dec. 2, the council approved a 2009 budget that included eight layoffs to come from the city's police, fire, public works, finance and administration departments. The council also backed adding a 5 percent electricity tax to dig the city out of debt. The extra tax will bring in $1.3 million annually, and next year it will be used to pay off a $500,000 debt from 2007 and up to $1 million in debt expected from 2008.

Rolling Meadows residents also will be paying more property taxes, since the council also approved a 7.4 percent property tax increase that will mostly fund police and fire pensions.

Job: 2009 budget called for eight layoffs