Why some suburbs compensate members of appointed boards
Depending where you live these days, performing civic duties might be not only personally fulfilling but also financially rewarding.
While many suburbs rely on volunteers to sit on various municipal boards and commissions, several others are paying appointees for their service.
A little more than half of 93 suburbs surveyed by the Daily Herald reported offering some type of remuneration to members of appointed boards such as plan commissions, and public safety and zoning appeal boards.
In all, 47 suburbs in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties reported offering some type of pay that ranges from as little as $10 per meeting in towns like Batavia, Glendale Heights and Round Lake Heights to as much as $5,000 a year in Rosemont.
“We implemented our pay system for appointed boards a couple years ago because before that, they didn’t receive anything,” said Bloomingdale Village President Franco Coladipietro.
Coladipietro said the decision to offer pay for appointed board members wasn’t done because the village was having a hard time finding volunteers.
“Everybody’s time is valuable,” he said. “We’re asking you to make a commitment to our community and be available a couple nights a month.”
The village pays $150 a month to regular members of the village’s planning and zoning commission, which makes recommendations on development issues to the elected village board. The chairman of the commission receives $250 a month. Members receive the stipends whether they meet or not.
Bloomingdale also pays a liquor commissioner $132 monthly. Last year, the village spent $11,732 on pay for appointed board members.
Among the 47 suburbs reviewed, the average annual cost to pay appointees was $5,300 in those towns. Rosemont taxpayers spent the most with $39,000 going to five zoning board members and four public safety commissioners.
Rosemont Mayor Brad Stephens pointed at the unique commercial development and redevelopment opportunities that exist in his village as reason for the premium they pay for their appointees, particularly the zoning board.
“They’ve got to understand what our zoning code is, what’s allowable and what’s not,” he said. “Based on what we’ve done, and continue to do here, it’s not crazy out of line what we pay.”
Aurora also paid more than $30,000 last year to members of four appointed boards who all were paid $75 per meeting, financial records show. In addition to Bloomingdale, Carpentersville, Oakbrook Terrace and Prospect Heights also spent more than $10,000 last year on appointed board pay.
Combined, the 47 suburbs that do offer compensation to board appointees spent $238,507 last year. That includes Round Lake Heights and Round Lake Park, which offer pay, but made no payments in 2024, financial documents received through public records requests show.
| Town | Amount paid | How they’re paid |
| ROSEMONT | $39,000 | Monthly |
| AURORA | $30,725 | Per meeting |
| OAKBROOK TERRACE | $13,650 | Monthly |
| CARPENTERSVILLE | $13,630 | Planning & zoning: per meeting; Police commission: monthly |
| BLOOMINGDALE | $11,732 | Monthly |
| PROSPECT HEIGHTS | $11,450 | Monthly |
| FOX LAKE | $8,925 | Per meeting |
| ANTIOCH | $8,480 | Per meeting |
| GURNEE | $7,455 | Per meeting |
| LAKE IN THE HILLS | $5,750 | Per meeting |
| Source: Municipalities | ||
Thomas Skuzinski, an associate professor of public administration at Northern Illinois University, notes the compensation is a tiny fraction of the towns’ annual expenditures.
“How important is it to have consistency and professionalism on these boards and not have to worry about making a quorum,” said Thomas Skuzinski, an associate professor of public administration at Northern Illinois University. “It’s a good investment to have a really savvy appointed body.”
Skuzinski was not surprised to learn a large swath of the communities that do pay municipal board appointees are some of the smaller suburbs, likely because there are fewer candidates in the pool.
“But it should also feel like a valued position,” he said. “There’s nothing more silly for folks to pour time into something where they don’t feel valued.”
Prospect Heights City Administrator Joe Wade said the city council increased pay for board appointees in 2021.
“I don’t think our board members are doing this for the pay. They’re civic-minded to begin with,” he said.
There are no guidelines on how much towns should pay for service on these boards and no single metric to determine if the money is being properly spent. Municipal leaders say service requires more than just showing up at a meeting, but meeting length and frequency is one way to gauge spending practices.
Prospect Heights spent $6,300 last year to pay members of the city’s planning and zoning commission. The board met nine times for a total of 1,106 minutes. That translates to spending roughly $5.70 per meeting minute.
“That’s good to hear,” Wade said.
Comparatively, Rosemont spent at rate of $276.32 per meeting minute last year for its zoning board’s seven meetings that lasted a combined 76 minutes.
“Best practices would say the pay rates should be revisited every couple of years,” Skuzinski said. “I think pay rates could be ratcheted up or down.”
In the towns that don’t provide payment for service on these boards, it’s rarely been an issue, municipal leaders said.
“I think you walk a very fine line when you start to pay people who are in an advisory-type capacity like this,” said Palatine Village Manager Reid Ottesen. “We have more people wanting to serve than we have openings for.”
Wheaton City Manager Mike Dzugan said he can’t recall the topic of paying appointed board members a stipend ever coming up in his three-plus decades with the city.
“What we do, and we just did this Sunday, is we have a nice brunch for them,” he said.