Joliet pay scale aimed at keeping managers ahead of staff

JOLIET – A new salary and benefits package for nonunion city workers is designed in part to keep supervisors’ pay ahead of the union workers they supervise.

The new pay scale, which goes into effect in January, was approved last week by the city council.

“We know there were people in supervisory or management positions that were making less than people they supervise,” said Councilman Michael Turk, chairman of the council’s finance committee. “This was an attempt to straighten that out.”

Former City Manager Thomas Thanas instituted a pay freeze for nonunion staff during the recession to control costs at a time when six-year contracts put in place before the economic downturn continued to provide pay increases to union workers.

That pay freeze essentially has stayed in place ever since, Turk said.

The package sets new salary ranges that increase top pay for nonunion positions that include department heads, their top assistants and all nonunion positions that include middle managers, engineers and secretaries.

It does not directly give pay raises.

But some employees will get a raise if their current salaries fall below the new minimums set in the pay ranges, Turk said.

The new pay schedule goes into effect Jan. 1.

Top pay for nine department heads – including the police chief, fire chief and city clerk – will go to $174,825, while most of those positions today are capped at $155,123.

The pay ordinance also provides that nonunion staff in the future will get pay raises tied to those given union employees through negotiated contracts.

The next pay increase for union staff is Jan. 1, 2019, and nonunion employees will get the same 2 percent raise.

The new pay schedule was created by GovHR USA, a consultant hired by the city.

Turk said GovHR USA did compare the Joliet pay scale with that of other municipalities.

The pay schedule includes ten categories.

One salary range that did not change was that of city manager, which remains at $185,000 to $220,000.

PAY RANGES FOR SELECTED JOLIET JOBS
• City Manager: $185,000 to $220,000
• Police Chief: $124,875 to $174,825
• Deputy Police Chief: $111,000 to $155,400
• Human Resources Manager, $85,085 to $119,120
• Accounting Manager: $81,034 to $113,447
• Chemist: $77,175 to $108,045
• Park Manager: $73,500 to $102,900
• Licensed Clinical Social Worker: $70,000 to $98,000
• Paralegal: $60,117 to $81,158
• Executive Secretary: $53,438 to $72,141
• Administrative Assistant, $47,500 to $64,125