Kane panel advises 5% raises for sheriff, clerk, treasurer; board members unchanged at $25K

GENEVA – An advisory committee recommended Monday that the salaries of the Kane County Sheriff, Clerk and Treasurer should all be increased by 5% and by 2% per year after that, but that compensation for the County Board members remain at $25,000.

The Elected Official Compensation Review Community Advisory Committee of former St. Charles mayor Susan Klinkhamer, current Hampshire Village President Michael Reid and Mike Lee, president CEO of the Kane County Teachers Credit Union, made the recommendations.

Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog said the recommendations will go to the Executive Committee April 2 before it would go to the full County Board April 8. There might be further review by a subcommittee of the Executive Committee, she said.

The board sets the compensation for whoever is elected in November.

The clerk and treasurer are paid $100,000 and the sheriff is paid $124,750, according to the ordinance the board passed in 2014 in which the salaries would remain unchanged.

If the pay raise recommendation is accepted, the clerk and treasurer would get $5,000 more and the sheriff would get $6,237 more.

“They will negate, accept or amend your recommendations,” Pierog said. “The first Monday in December (is when) the County Board members are sworn into office, so [a vote] has to be 180 days before that occurs.”

Pierog said this is an opportunity to review the compensation for County Board members and county-wide elected officials whose terms are up this year, which include clerk, sheriff and treasurer.

“That will be set for four years,” Pierog said, regarding the county-wide positions.

Lee said he works for a nonprofit in the county and represents about 20,000 members.

“When I saw the information, it kind of appalled me that the county is not taking care of the people that I depend upon every day to keep me safe ... to do the basic functions that I, as a citizen, see as my right, living in this county – I had no idea that things like this went on in government. In the private sector, this would never happen,” Lee said.

Also being a businessman, Lee said he can see how tough it is to hire quality employees and keep them.

“My employees average a 4% to 5% increase every year. And I still don’t think they’re probably paid enough, but I am a not-for-profit,” Lee said. “I think it’s more than fair that these people (sheriff, clerk and treasurer) should have an adjustment. It’s not big – 5% – I did the math and it’s only about $16,000. If you want to stay in this job market, you have to take care of people.”

Klinkhamer said what they are doing is addressing the issue of people who have not gotten a raise in years.

“One thing about elected officials – you’re stuck,” Klinkhamer said. “You don’t get a raise at a certain time, you’re stuck with that salary for years sometimes, as we’ve seen here.”

Reid said settling the county-wide elected officials’ salaries once every four years is unfair.

“I look at it from a public safety perspective, only,” Reid said. “I look at the job of the Kane County Sheriff and I look at … what other police chiefs are being paid.”

Reid said Hampshire’s police chief makes about what Sheriff Hain does. And while he appreciates the job Hampshire’s chief does, the county sheriff’s job covers a larger geographic area, he manages more people and involves different circumstances.

The sheriff has to provide service to the entire county and the jail, Reid said.

“I’m not saying we need to roll out the red carpet and give hundreds of thousands dollars worth of raises,” Reid said. “But if you don’t put something in place, it’s going to be what it has been for all these years, it’s going to be stagnant.”

Lee said the average pay raises for teachers is 2% per year. The panel agreed that going forward, those positions should be increased by 2% per year.

Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain said he has deputies that make more than he does with just a little overtime.

“It takes a constant, 24-hour commitment to deliver what we’ve done over the last three-plus years,” Hain stated in a text.

Hain’s text cited a decrease in opioid overdose deaths by 89%, a decrease in the jail population by 35%, jail violence down by 35% and workmen’s comp claims down 40%, along with a countywide crime decrease of 16%, and the re-integration of the electronic monitoring program out of his office, that saved nearly $5 million over the last three years.

“Kane County needs to properly compensate those who do the work that keep us ahead of the curve, otherwise we fall far behind all those who do the work,” Hain said.

Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham said he has not had a raise for 17 years.

“It was under (former chair) Karen McConnaughay. That was the last raise we got,” Cunningham said.

McConnaughay was Board Chair from 2004 through 2012.

“I enjoy the job. I’d probably do it for nothing,” Cunningham said.

Treasurer Michael Kilbourne was on vacation and unavailable to comment.