Arlington Heights elected officials set for pay raises after three-decade freeze

Left untouched for three decades, the salaries of Arlington Heights’ elected officials will get a major raise.

The mayor’s salary will increase from $8,500 to $33,000, and trustees’ salaries will go up from $2,800 to $11,000, village board members agreed this week. The increases wouldn’t take effect until after the April 9, 2029, municipal elections — whether the current officials are still on the board or not.

Mayor Jim Tinaglia, who just marked his first year in office, initiated the review of compensation at village hall. He said his predecessor, Tom Hayes, encouraged another look after failing to convince fellow board members to adjust their salaries in 2017.

Previous boards increased their pay in 1996 and 1973.

“During the campaign … people would ask me, ‘Are you going to quit being an architect when you become mayor?’ and I said, ‘Well, I still have to pay my mortgage. I still have to work for a living,’” Tinaglia said at a board meeting Monday night.

He asked voters how much they thought the Arlington Heights mayor made.

“The lowest number anybody guessed was 75. And I had to say, ‘75 what?’ They said, ‘$75,000.’ I said, ‘Well, if you’d have said $7,500, you’d be really close.’”

The new salaries would put compensation for Arlington Heights village board members at the 75th percentile of comparable communities — the salary level for most full-time Arlington Heights village employees, officials said.

An analysis of 11 surrounding Northwest suburbs shows a range of pay for elected officials. Mayors are paid anywhere from $7,800 (Buffalo Grove) to $49,800 (Hoffman Estates), while board and council members get between $1,200 (Park Ridge) and $15,000 (Des Plaines).

Trustee Robin LaBedz, who with Tinaglia has been on the board the longest at 13 years, said most board members have full-time jobs, yet devote evenings and weekends to their elected responsibilities. That includes reading hundreds of pages of documents to prepare for board meetings, in addition to attending ribbon cuttings and other events around town, she said.

“We care about our taxpayers. We don’t want to overburden them just because we get a little bit of an increase,” LaBedz said. “But I don’t think people understand what trustees and the mayor do. They don’t understand how much time it takes.”

LaBedz, along with Trustees Wendy Dunnington and Carina Santa Maria, said raising the salaries would provide a “level of fairness” so more people could consider running for office, helping to pay for expenses like child care.

Santa Maria said she paid more for child care during the board meeting Monday night than she will get in her trustee stipend this month.

“Many local government positions unintentionally favor retirees and wealthy individuals or people with highly-flexible jobs,” she said. “That limits who can realistically step into leadership and whose voices are represented at the table.”

Trustees Bill Manganaro and Greg Zyck opposed the pay raises, questioning whether that would really induce anybody to run who hasn’t already. They also said the timing isn’t right when costs are increasing elsewhere.

“Everyone in that group of eight people who wanted to serve the village (in the 2025 trustee election) was very willing to do it for very little money,” Manganaro said. “I don’t believe it’s why people step up to serve. At a time of levies going up, increasing utility prices, insurance health care costs, I just don’t like the look of it.”

The board will take an official vote on an ordinance adjusting compensation at an upcoming meeting.