Three Lake County board members explain accepting raises

Three of the Lake County Board members who decided to accept salary increases effective this month explained their decisions Wednesday.

Democrat Mary Ross Cunningham of Waukegan insisted she earned the roughly $1,600-a-year boost and plans to keep it. Democrat Audrey Nixon of North Chicago said she will accept the larger paychecks but plans to use the extra income to help her constituents.

Waukegan Democrat Angelo Kyle said he plans to give the money to the church where he serves as pastor.

Of the county board's 23 members, only four did not submit paperwork formally rejecting the planned raises, which the panel approved in May 2008.

The fourth was Waukegan Democrat Diane Hewitt, who'd already publicly said she would keep the money.

During the 2009 fiscal year, which ended Nov. 30, the annual salary for nearly every county board member was $39,370. Lake County Board Chairwoman Suzi Schmidt earned about $80,000, plus extra stipends, because of her additional duties.

As the economy worsened this year, most board members opted to decline the raises, including many who had voted for them in 2008.

Kyle previously told the Daily Herald he would refuse the raise. On Wednesday, however, he said he'd accept the pay and then donate it to his church, St. Matthew Baptist Church in Waukegan.

"I figured that would be the best thing for me to do," said Kyle, a commissioner since 1990.

Cunningham, a commissioner since 2002, said she "can't see at this time turning (the raise) back."

Cunningham said she's keeping the money because she's the sole breadwinner for her household. But she also said she earned the money by putting in the hours for her constituents.

"I worked hard for this," she said.

Nixon, a commissioner since 1982, said she will accept the raise but wants to do something with the money for her constituents. She hasn't yet decided how to spend the money.

Nixon said people don't realize all the work she does for the residents of her district, including helping to pay for burials, helping them get jobs and putting food on some tables.

"That comes out of my pocket," she said.

Nixon said she'd like to do something charitable with the money, rather than let it go back into the county's coffers, "to make sure it goes to the people."