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 Illinoisans are struggling under the
highest property taxes in the nation, a declining population and the nation’s
worst income growth, but one group is still doing pretty well – government
workers.
According to OpenTheBooks.com, Illinois has 63,000 public employees making more
than $100,000, costing taxpayers $10 billion. These government workers range
from auto pound supervisors to corrections nurses to junior college presidents
and more. One of the most lucrative government fields is that of village and
city managers, many of whom out-earn every U.S. governor.
The 10 highest-paid village and city managers in Illinois are located in Cook
County and the collar counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will. These
local officials are all are making more than $200,000 per year.
 The village of Glenview has the highest-paid village manager at $297,988.45 per
year. Grayslake, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Northbrook, Rosemont, Palatine,
Schaumburg and Northfield round out the top 10, with city and village managers
in those locales all making between $230,000 and $265,000. Rosemont was on the
list twice, with two village managers making more than $245,000.
This is on top of the comparatively high salaries many Illinois mayors take in.
For example, Rosemont Mayor Brad Stephens makes $260,000 per year, while San
Francisco Mayor Ed Lee makes $289,000 annually and Los Angeles Mayor Eric
Garcetti has a salary of $238,000. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner makes $235,000
per year.
Rosemont taxpayers are on the hook for more than $750,000 for just three
executive positions. In addition to Brad Stephens’ salary, the village of 4,200
has two village managers who both make six figures. Rosemont Village Manager
Christopher Stephens – who is also Brad Stephens’ nephew – makes $249,231.46 per
year, and Rosemont Village Manager Patrick Nagle makes $245,000.
Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar has an annual salary of roughly $150,000.
Bolingbrook is partially located in DuPage County, where taxpayers are paying
the second highest property taxes in Illinois and the 27th-highest in the
country. Lake County – where village officials in Grayslake, Lake Forest and
Libertyville are pulling in more than $200,000 per year – has residents faced
with the highest property taxes in the state, and the 21st-highest in the
nation.
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Collar counties McHenry, Kane and Will
rank fourth-, fifth- and sixth-highest in the state, respectively,
and all are among the country’s top 35 counties for the highest
median property taxes. Cook County residents are saddled with
slightly lower property taxes, though still 67th-highest in the
country.
These municipalities with high-priced executives also receive state
aid through the Local Government Distributive Fund, or LGDF.
Grayslake, for example, with a village manager making more than
$264,000, received more than $2.1 million from state taxpayers in
fiscal year 2016. Northbrook, with a more than $250,000 village
manager, received more than $3.3 million. Schaumburg, with a village
manager receiving nearly $240,000, received $7.5 million in LGDF
funding.
The LGDF distributes money not based on need or any particular
purpose, but simply based on each local government’s share of the
statewide population. This sends state taxpayers’ money to locales
that may not need it and also encourages local overspending – such
as on high pay and benefits for local government employees.
Ending LGDF for populations over 5,000 could save the state $1.75
billion each year, and rein in spending that keeps local taxes so
high. Additionally, local government and school district
consolidation efforts could reduce costs and ease the burden on
overtaxed residents in the Chicagoland area.
In the meantime, as Illinois taxpayers struggle with the one of the
highest overall tax burdens in the country, and deal with personal
income growth that lags behind neighboring states, government
officials should take the initiative in exercising fiscal restraint
and cutting the cost of government by reducing their own salaries.
Taxpayers in Cook County, the collar counties and across the state
of Illinois have been forced to bear the burden for too long.
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