LaSalle County Board members aren’t ready to change their pay. On average, each gets about $10,000 per year–from $60 per day for board and committee meetings. It’s been at that level since 1994. Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $113 per day now.
Member Randy Freeman suggested at yesterday’s board meeting, the pleasure of serving ought to be enough. He was surprised to find out when he was a new board member about 20 years ago that he would be paid. He’s not running for reelection, but he warned everyone else who is that they’ll have to justify the raises to voters.
Member Jerry Myers says it’s time for an increase. He says nobody’s getting rich serving as a board member. And even if they do it for the pleasure of serving, their time is worth something.
Arratta Znaniecki thinks some members should get more. She says she’s amazed at how much work committee chairs do and feels they deserve more.
But Znaniecki feels her insurance benefits shouldn’t be paid for from county funds. Mike Kasap proposed a salary of $7,000 per year and leaving it up to each individual board member to shop for his or her own insurance. The board voted that down after some members said the board should stick to a per diem system to ensure that members show up to earn what they get. Freeman joked that he might not retire from the board after all if he could get paid without going to meetings.
After much discussion, the board voted on a proposal for $100 per day for meetings and an extra $500 per year for serving as a committee chair. The majority said no. Some want the topic to come up at a special meeting next week. The board will meet as a committee of the whole next Friday at 10am to talk about a construction project inside the Etna Rd. courthouse.
Now is a convenient time to adjust board members’ pay. The board must adopt a change 180 days before the election and the change can’t take place until the next term. Since all 29 seats are up for election in newly drawn districts, everyone’s next term will start on the same day later this year. The change wouldn’t have to be phased in for half the board this year and the rest two years later.