District 158 finance chief gets promotion, raise

Huntley Unit District 158 has a chief financial officer for the first time in three years.

The district last month promoted Mark Altmayer from comptroller to CFO.

District 158 hired Altmayer in January 2009, more than a year after Stacie Talbert resigned as comptroller. At the time, officials said Altmayer would not yet have the CFO title because he had not served in that position before.

Superintendent John Burkey says he told Altmayer he would promote him if he excelled in his post. In Burkey's estimation, Altmayer has done that.

"We wanted to see if he could do it for a year," Burkey said this week. "I feel he has done an excellent job."

Altmayer will get a raise along with his title change. Under his new agreement with the district, Altmayer will make $130,000 this school year and next year. Altmayer's benefits will stay the same, Burkey said.

Altmayer's base salary when he was hired in January 2009 was $105,000. With performance bonuses, his first-year salary ended up at $115,000.

Burkey said the raise puts Altmayer at the salary he would have made had he previously served as chief financial officer for a public school district. The salary is also what the district advertised when it sought to fill the finance vacancy, Burkey said.

"If we would have found an experienced school CFO, we would have hired him at the salary Mark is at now," Burkey said.

Altmayer's raise comes at a time when the administration is asking its support staff, nonunion employees and administrators to take a salary freeze.

Burkey himself volunteered to take a pay freeze next year. His salary has risen 22 percent over four years, from $145,000 to $178,000.

Although Altmayer received a raise this year, his salary will be frozen next year, Burkey said, under the terms of his new contract.

Altmayer said his new salary is comparable to that of school finance officials with similar experience and that it also reflects the additional responsibilities he assumed earlier this year, when Dave Jenkins resigned as chief operations officer. Burkey has elected not to fill that position.

"I'm being paid market value," Altmayer said. "I have a lot of additional people reporting to me."

District 158's last CFO was Stan Hall, who resigned in 2007.