Longtime Village Board Finance Committee Chairman Carl Ceretto questioned this week proposed increases in pay to village employees that “far exceed” the 3 percent to 4 percent cost of living increases typically given to non-union village employees. Even though common practice is to give similar increases, some non-union workers are in line for pay increases of as much as 23 percent, while union employees receive the typical increase, he said.
There is no process in place for merit raises, Ceretto said, but increases proposed by Mayor Patrick Kitching for some administrative employees range from 4 percent to 23 percent.
“I don’t understand why there is such a range for these increases,” Ceretto said during a committee meeting this week. “We have to justify to the taxpayers the money that we spend.”
In Alsip, village trustees are ultimately responsible for budgets of the departments they oversee.
Ceretto directed his comments to the mayor, who is responsible for developing the administrative spending plan. Kitching said the numbers he put forward are “preliminary figures.”
The village fiscal year requires that the budget be approved before July 31.