McHenry County board to discuss future salaries

The committee chairmen of the McHenry County Board will meet Wednesday to begin the process of setting salaries for some county officials who will be elected next year.

County board members' salaries are currently about $20,000 per year, while the county chairman's compensation is about $79,000 per year, County Administrator Peter Austin said. Also part of the discussion will be salaries for the recorder, auditor, coroner and clerk of the circuit court, Austin said.

“By law, elected officials can't set their own salaries, so they have to be set before they are sworn into office,” Austin said. The county's director of human resources will present research on salaries for area counties' elected officials, he said.

Tuesday will be the first day to circulate petitions for the March primary election ballot. After the general election in November, newly elected officials in McHenry County will be sworn in Dec. 1, 2012, Austin said.

Salaries for the current county treasurer, county clerk and county sheriff are valid through 2014, while the state sets the compensation for the state's attorney and regional superintendent of schools, a position currently vacant, Austin said.

The meeting takes place at 8 a.m. Wednesday in the administration building of the McHenry County Government Center, 667 Ware Road, Woodstock.