Lake County board salary changes moving forward
A plan to set new salaries for Lake County Board members cleared a second hurdle Wednesday.
The board’s finance committee approved the plan, which would see nearly all members earn $43,750 annually starting in December 2012.
Only the board’s chairman, now Buffalo Grove Republican David Stolman, would earn more, an estimated $87,500.
The proposed board member salary represents a pay cut for most members, but a raise for others because commissioners currently don’t all make the same.
Most now earn $44,074 annually. Eight earn $40,945 a year.
Stolman collects $81,890 now, plus a $3,000 stipend for being the county’s liquor commissioner. The stipend would reman constant if the new salary scale is approved.
In addition to their salaries, all board members have access to personal expense accounts of $4,500 a year. Some use the cash, while others don’t.
The board’s reapportionment committee proposed the salary changes Tuesday.
They would be good for all the board members for the next two years and for some of them for an additional two years.
The time span is split because some board members will be elected to 2-year terms in 2012 and some will be elected to 4-year terms. A future lottery will determine term lengths.
During Wednesday’s finance committee meeting, two members — Highland Park Democrat Anne Flanigan Bassi and Zion Republican Brent Paxton — voted against the salary proposal.
Paxton, the committee’s leader, historically has opposed pay increases for board members. Bassi did not explain her vote.
But a majority of the committee supported the plan, including Lake Barrington Republican Stevenson Mountsier.
“It sends the right message out to the public,” Mountsier said. “We’re not trying to pad our salaries.”
Although approved by the board, most members have refused to keep pay raises in recent years, returning thousands of dollars to the county coffers.
Board members will discuss the proposal Friday during a committee-of-the-whole gathering. The full board is scheduled to vote on the salary proposal June 14.