Pay hikes for Kendall County elected officials off the agenda--for now

UPDATED 1:10 P.M. TUESDAY, APRIL 21:

YORKVILLE – A vote on a potential salary increase for the Kendall County Circuit Clerk has been pushed back during the Kendall County Board meeting this week.

Kendall County Board Chairman Scott Gryder proposed removing the matter from the agenda for the Tuesday, April 21 remote meeting and the County Board voted, 9-0, in favor of doing so. County Board member Tony Giles attended the majority of the meeting but was unable to vote due to technical difficulties.

Gryder said during the questions from the press portion of the Tuesday meeting the county has until June 4 to set the salaries for elected officials soon taking office. Per Kendall County Assistant State's Attorney Leslie Johnson, salaries for elected officials have to be set by the County Board at least 180 days before the beginning of the term of office – in this case, by early June – according to state law.

"At some point between now and then, we will reconvene and discuss it further," Gryder said.

It is unclear when the matter is set to reappear on which future Kendall County government meeting agenda. Gryder did not immediately respond to an additional request for comment from Record Newspapers following the Tuesday meeting.

The update comes after the Kendall County Board Committee of the Whole discussed possible increased salaries for the county circuit clerk and coroner during their remote meeting on Thursday, April 16. Committee member Elizabeth Flowers was absent from the meeting.

Board member Matt Kellogg said county officials initially were looking at two possible scenarios for the circuit clerk salary increases, with annual increases of 2% or 2.5% from fiscal years 2021 to 2024. He said the rationale for the proposed increases were to better align with union contracts for circuit clerk office workers.

“We can do other things, but this was kind of the feel we had for it,” Kellogg said.

The circuit clerk's current annual salary in Kendall County is $91,554. The office previously had a 0% salary increase in fiscal years 2017 and 2018, a 0.64% increase for fiscal year 2019 and a 0.97% increase for fiscal year 2020.

Committee member Matt Prochaska, who won the Republican primary race for circuit clerk last month, recused himself from the discussion.

Committee member Judy Gilmour said she feels like it's the wrong time for the county to discuss salaries and increases for public officials in light of what's happening within the state due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's stay-at-home order in effect until April 30. She said she believes county officials need to think of the taxpayer, especially when so many people are out of work right now, people and businesses can't pay taxes, and businesses are closing with no clear date of when they can re-open.

“I think it’s time for us to take a pause on this,” Gilmour said.

Gilmour said her comments are not a reflection on the current circuit clerk. She said it's solely because of the financial position the county is in now.

Committee member Audra Hendrix said she probably would have been in favor of the increases before the coronavirus outbreak. Now, she said, not so much.

Hendrix said she would be in favor of a 0% salary increase for the circuit clerk for the next two fiscal years and an annual 1% increase for fiscal years 2023 and 2024. She said both circuit clerk and coroner's salaries are higher than average for the county as it is.

“And we’re in a once in a 100 year event here and it’s terribly inappropriate at this juncture to be giving raises to people who are already making more than the average in the county," Hendrix said.

The median salary in Kendall County came in at $91,764 from 2014 to 2018, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

County officials also said the rationale for the proposed coroner salary increase of 15% or 18.43% in fiscal year 2021 and an annual increase of 2% was to better align with coroners' salaries in surrounding areas. The matter is set to be revisited during the next Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled for May 14.

The coroner's current annual salary in Kendall County is $59,108. The office previously had a 0% salary increase in fiscal years 2017 and 2018 and an annual 1% salary increase for fiscal years 2019 and 2020.

• This story has been updated to include information about related Kendall County Board action on Tuesday, April 21 morning.