Village Trustees Say No Thanks to Pay Raise Proposal

Despite having approved an $8,000 pay raise for the mayor's job in July, members opted to reject a much smaller trustee raise Monday night.

With a 4-2 vote, the board rejected increasing the per-meeting fee from $100 to $125, an increase that would not have gone into effect until after the April 2013 election for three board seats and after the April 2015 election for the remaining two seats.

The proposal was voted down by Trustees Dan Rippy, Garrett Peck, Margie Bonuchi and Bill Lamb. Trustees Paul Fay and Jim Racich voted in favor of it.

Trustees are not allowed to approve a pay raise for themselves, according to state law. They can only OK increases that go into effect after an election.

The same applies to the , which won't kick in until after the April 2013 election. Mayor Michael Collins has not indicated whether he intends to run again, and even if he did, it's possible he might not be re-elected and thus will not benefit from the annual $20,000 stipend. In the case of that office, a pay hike had not been approved since 2003.

"People will say, well, you're voting yourself a pay increase," Racich said, "but not until you're re-elected."

Peck said he and the other trustees who rejected the $25 per-meeting hike did so because it was inappropriate given the current recession.

"In this economy, it's just not the time for elected officials to be giving out raises," he said.

Had the measure been approved, trustees would have received about $1,300 more a year. At $100 per meeting, trustees are paid about $5,200 a year, depending on how many meetings they attend.