The Yorkville City Council this week approved salary increases for mayor and City Council members after all currently held terms of office expire in 2023.
Aldermen in a 6-1 vote approved a resolution to increase the mayor’s pay from $8,500 to $14,400 a year and stipends for regular and special meetings from $100 to $150. The mayor’s salary includes compensation for serving as the city’s Liquor Control commissioner.
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The salary for aldermen will increase from $3,600 to $5,500 a year and stipends for attendance at regular and special meetings will increase from $100 to $150.
The City Council has eight members, and half of the terms expire in 2021 while four other aldermanic seats and the mayor’s term expire in 2023.
The compensation adjustments will begin May 1, 2023.
The adjustments for mayor and aldermanic salaries will include a 2% cost of living increase every fiscal year beginning May 1, 2024, so the compensation would stay current with other municipalities in the area, similar to the process for city employees, Assistant City Administrator Erin Willrett said.
The last annual compensation adjustment for elected officials in Yorkville was in 2006 and per meeting stipends changed in 2008 from $50 to $100, she said.
Ald. Joel Frieders said people don’t run for City Council for the money.
“I got my roads done … that’s worth far more,” Frieders said of the Whispering Meadows subdivision located west of Route 47 and north of Cannonball Trail whose developer went bankrupt during the 2008 housing market crash and left behind unfinished neighborhood streets.
The city approved a settlement agreement with a bond company in 2018 to get the road repairs and infrastructure there completed.
The work of City Council members does take time, Frieders said.
“Preparing for meetings like this isn’t a 20-minute, half-hour or 45-minute type of responsibility,” Frieders said. “If I don’t do the preparation, I am going to sit here and stare.”
Ald. Chris Funkhouser acknowledged that talking about pay hikes is not an easy discussion to have.
“It’s either political suicide or it’s not looked at very pleasantly,” he said, noting that the increases approved won’t take effect until 2023.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.