Evanston City Council members are sticking with what would amount to a 23 percent increase in salary for both aldermen and the mayor who sit on the next City Council, balking at a council member’s suggestion that any compensation package should address the disparity in the city health insurance benefits some aldermen receive.
At Monday night’s Rules Committee meeting, aldermen reaffirmed support for the recommendation of a special mayoral-appointed Compensation Committee.
Members of the mayor’s Compensation Committee had recommended increases of 23.1 percent for both the aldermen and the mayor who sit on the next City Council, to be seated in May 2017.
Aldermen would receive a $3,000 salary increase, bringing their total salary to $15,990 under the group’s recommendation.
The mayor’s salary, meanwhile, would be lifted $4,751 to $25,307.
Evanston operates under the council/manager form of government. The mayor and aldermen, who serve four-year terms, are part-time and largely policy makers, while day-to-day decisions fall to a city manager and professional staff.
In its recommendation, the mayoral Compensation Committee took note that “each individual works very hard, and very effectively, for the benefit of the city and its residents. In a city of diversity we want to encourage citizens from all segments of our community to serve the city as an elected official if she or he wishes to do so.”
At the same time, the committee report noted, “while the economy has improved considerably over the past several years, we still face limited resources and challenging times ahead.”
In asking the Rules Committee to look at the issue, Ald. Ann Rainey, 8th, argued that any compensation package should address a disparity in the health benefits some council members receive.
“We’re on a stipend, we’re not employees, we don’t go by employee rules and I believe our compensation should be equal,” she said. “I think we should all receive equal stipends across the board.”
Ald. Brian Miller, 9th, who holds a full-time time job as chief of staff to Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin and was the lone City Council member not taking any health insurance from the city, argued against Rainey’s proposal to, in his words, “level off.”
“The more you get closer to a full-time salary, I think that actually creates a council that is not as diverse,” he said. “I think we benefit from diverse perspective and if we have people who can only afford to do this as a full-time job because of whatever their means are that actually affects the representation of the city.”
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Ald. Mark Tendam, 6th, argued against grouping the stipend and health benefits.
“A stipend is a stipend and it is flat for all of us,” he said. “To me the subsidy for insurance represents a benefit provided to us for being on the council, being part of this organization, working hard as we do. It has nothing to do with the actual value of our service. It simply is a real cost.”
Aldermen recommended in favor of the stipend recommended by the mayor’s Compensation Committee.
The issue will next go back to the full City Council, comprised of the same members as the Rules Committee. Under ordinance, the compensation of an elected municipal officer must be fixed by ordinance 180 days prior to the beginning of the term for office, in this case May of next year.
Twitter: @evanstonscribe