Schaumburg to save on payroll, bonds

Schaumburg leaders expect to save at least $1.35 million over the course of the next 13 years by revising the village’s nonunion pay scale and refinancing the bonds used to fund new and upgraded fire stations several years ago.

Some of these savings will be felt more quickly than others.

Responding to criticisms a couple years ago that public sector pay was out of sync with the private sector, administrators re-evaluated and revised the pay scale for the village’s approximately 350 full- and part-time nonunion jobs, Village Manager Ken Fritz said.

The new pay scale is expected to save the village about $150,000 per year over at least the next five years.

Comparing village pay to both public sector and private sector equivalents was a new step, but Fritz admitted that over the course of 30 years a pure step increase system can get out of sync with the norm.

The changes approved by trustees Tuesday night would freeze 96 employees’ pay until their level of seniority warrants a raise under the new system.

An unexpected finding in the comprehensive re-evaluation was that while some of the village’s lower positions were receiving pay higher than the norm, some upper positions were being underpaid, Fritz said.

Under the new pay scale, personal work performance will have much more to do with future raises, he added.

“The new compensation strategy fairly compensates employees for the level of education, professional certification or licensure, responsibility, accountability and other factors required in the day-to-day performance of their job,” Fritz said.

The village has about 650 employees, but for 300 of them pay is determined through collective bargaining agreements with their unions.

The other, more gradual savings the village expects to see is through the refinancing of the 2004 capital improvement bonds that built two new fire stations, a public works garage, an addition for a third fire station and a general upgrade for a fourth.

Acting Finance Director Jodie Andrew said between $600,000 and $700,000 is expected to be saved through the refinancing, which takes advantage of a recent drop in interest rates. The bonds are still expected to be retired in December 2024.

The village board is expected to approve the refinancing on Dec. 13 as long as rates haven’t changed significantly by then.

Fritz said all these savings are hoped to assist taxpayers and provide a better year-by-year determination of the village’s ability to handle road maintenance projects or fight the emerald ash borer.