$1,100 pay per mile is questionable

After reading Jake Griffin’s June 1 article, “Fewer miles, more Pay,” I don’t think the question is so much the difference each highway commissioner makes in relation to the miles of highway he manages, but rather why do they all get paid so much? For the 10 townships listed in the article, the average salary is slightly more than $90,000 and the average miles managed is slightly less than 80, for a salary of over $1,100 per mile managed. Throw out the highs and the lows, and the numbers stay relatively constant.

Now I admit I don’t know what these jobs entail. After all, they may be really difficult. Maybe they have large workforces with lots of rolling stock to manage those 80 miles. Maybe negotiating the price of road salt is really complex. Maybe the pothole and plowing problems are really difficult to manage. But really, $1,100 per mile?

John Gillies

Schaumburg