Hoffman Estates department heads agree to salary freezes

With the economy fluttering, Hoffman Estates' village department heads will forgo salary raises for the next fiscal year.

The village board voted Monday to extend Village Manager James Norris' contract through Dec. 31, the end of the village's fiscal year. Norris' contract expires on April 30 and the new board will be seated on May 1. The vote locks Norris into the same salary, a prorated amount of the $173,500 annual amount approved in March 2008. Later this year, Norris' contract will come up again for a formal extension by the new board.

Norris, along with other departmental heads, including the fire and police chiefs, all agreed to a salary freeze. Norris said salary would be revisited once the economy improves. The village is projecting a 3.2 percent increase in expenditures in the operating budget compared to last year, or a $4.1 million jump. Officials are projecting expenditures to outpace revenues in the operating fund by $1.5 million.

Norris didn't want to make a big deal out of the salary freezes, calling it "the right thing to do" in lieu of layoffs and with decreasing revenues.

The village budgeted $30.8 million for salaries and wages for the 2009 fiscal year, which represents 33 percent of the budget. That's about $100,000 less than in 2008, a 0.2 percent drop. Some of those savings comes from staff buyouts and layoffs.

Fire Chief Robert Gorvett is among the department heads that agreed to keep salaries level. He said it sends a message of responsibility to taxpayers.

Money is tight all around. Gorvett on Monday asked the board for $50,000 for office furnishings for his department's new fire station No. 24 on the 5700 block of Beacon Point Drive. The amount is $15,000 less than what he asked for last week, when village board members scrutinized the request. Though the board approved the reduced request, Trustee Cary Collins said that furniture from the station being replaced could be moved. The new station could be finished by the summer.

"Certainly an environment of declining revenue affects everybody," Gorvett said.