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Water
panel seeks pay hike
from $600 to $10,000 a year
Chicago Tribune
- 4/17
Only
months after the 13 appointed members of the DuPage Water Commission
voted to begin accepting pay for the first time, they are angling
for a pay raise.
The
commissioners voted in October to begin receiving $600 a year
for attending once-a-month meetings. Under state law, however,
some "exempted" commissioners, who are elected officials
or staff members of local communities or DuPage County, were prohibited
from being paid any amount.
So earlier this year, the commissioners recommended changing the
state law so that all of them could be paid and increasing the
pay to $10,000 a year and $11,000 for the board's three subcommittee
chairmen.
Water
Commission Chairman Mike Vondra wants DuPage County Board Chairman
Robert Schillerstrom to see to it that the higher salaries are
set, but politics and the poor economy may get in the way.
Schillerstrom
has irked municipal leaders who are put off by his recent efforts
to exert greater control over the independent Lake Michigan water
agency.
Any
changes in state law regarding the commission would likely be
part of a "shell bill," or state bill that does not
yet have any language in it, that Schillerstrom recently had Republican
leaders draft. Vondra, whom Schillerstrom appointed, said he is
recommending that legislators modify the law to authorize Schillerstrom
to set a level of pay for commissioners when the economic environment
"is acceptable."
"The
fact is that since 1985 the water commissioners haven't been paid,
which I perceive as inequitable," Vondra said. "And
if you look at the average compensation for mayors in DuPage and
for commissioners at the DuPage Airport Authority, we need to
be put on a level-playing field with other people serving in the
same manner."
Airport
commissioners receive $10,000 per year, while DuPage mayors' compensation
varies widely. Though the village presidents of Hinsdale and Clarendon
Hills get no salary, Naperville's mayor will make $20,000 per
year as of May 1, with an additional $5,000 for his role as liquor
control commissioner. And Warrenville's mayor will begin getting
a $24,000 annual salary in 2005.
Woodridge
Mayor William Murphy, who has battled with Schillerstrom over
the chairman's efforts to take control of some of the commission's
sales-tax revenues, said he found it "distasteful" that
state law could be changed to allow Schillerstrom to set commissioners'
salaries.
"The
DuPage Water Commission is a separate governmental agency, and
Bob Schillerstrom has no connection whatsoever to the Water Commission
other than for the naming of six board members and the Water Commission
chairman," Murphy said.
Municipal
leaders select the other six members.
Schillerstrom's
top aide, Dan Wagner, said his boss concurs with Vondra's views
on compensation, particularly in the current economic environment.
"Philosophically,
Bob doesn't have a problem with this since he supports people
who work in government being paid a fair wage for their time,"
Wagner said. "Right now, we're in difficult fiscal times
in the state and county, and it's not something to rush into."
Vondra
said he would defer any final decisions on commissioner compensation
to Schillerstrom.
"He
was elected by and serves the 900,000 people who live in DuPage
County, while I was elected by one guy--him," Vondra said.
"I await his direction on this issue."
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