DuPage sheriff boosting pay of administrators, other staff

The DuPage County Sheriff's Office is increasing salaries for administrators and other staff members to resolve an issue where some deputies were being paid as much or more than their bosses.

But some county board members questioned whether now is the right time to provide raises for dozens of sheriff's employees.

The increases were discussed at length Tuesday by members of the board's finance committee. The full county board signed off on the raises less than two hours later.

Sheriff James Mendrick said it became routine for deputies, who have had consistent salary increases because of union negotiations, to make more than their supervisors. As a result, he said, there was a significant drop in the number of employees seeking promotions.

"We couldn't get people to take promotional tests," he said. "They would actually lose money to be promoted."

Mendrick said steps have been taken to widen the gap between what deputies and supervisors make without seeking additional funding from the county.

But because the changes were "budget neutral," Mendrick said, the department was only able to address "probably 80% of the problem." He said administrators, civilian employees and crime laboratory workers had to wait "until we could come up with another internal solution."

He said the solution came when the department found a less expensive way to provide security at the courthouse in Wheaton.

Court security officers, who are paid less than sworn sheriff's deputies, have been hired to help protect the courthouse. So the department was able to find money in its budget to spend roughly $270,000 to provide "equity" raises to 27 employees.

The raises range from $586 for an administrative specialist to $29,450 for one of the deputy chiefs.

While the raises have been approved, several county board members questioned the timing, especially since DuPage is having a difficult fiscal year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We're going to be talking about double-digit cuts in budgets for almost every department," board member Ashley Selmon said. "I just have a hard time looking at (administrators) who already make six figures and saying, 'We're going to have to give you some more.'"

The Addison Democrat suggested the raises be postponed until after the county has a planned discussion about race and policing.

Selmon said that would be more respectful of taxpayers "who are looking at the whole nation and going, 'Maybe we're not putting our money in the right buckets because it's not keeping us that much safer.'"

But other board members, including Don Puchalski, said they understand Mendrick's desire to have quality individuals in supervisory positions.

"If he were coming here asking us for more money, it would be a different story," said Puchalski, an Addison Republican. "But he's working within his budget ... to take care of a need that he knows exists in his office."