Commissioners approve budget with pay hikes

Kendall County Commissioners unanimously approved a budget Monday that included a much-maligned double-digit pay raise for themselves.

The contentious budget talks centered on the pay raises of between 11 and 23%, amounts that drew harsh criticism from Commissioners Chad Carpenter and Andra Wisian.

“I’m not going to vote on a budget and approve what we have in front of us,” Carpenter said of the budget presented by County Auditor Corinna Speer.

Wisian disputed ever seeing the figures before they appeared in paid advertisements. She said she never would have agreed to such raises, and suggested the vote be delayed to allow for the budget line item to be altered.

But Speer and the commission’s legal counsel said the timeline needed to make the adjustments would delay approval beyond its Sept. 30 deadline.

The $93 million budget contains a property tax rate of $.3827 per $100 of valuation, unchanged from last year’s tax rate.

The county’s no-new-revenue rate came in at 0.375425, below the county’s favored 0.3827 rate “because we’re getting more tax revenue” because of higher property values, said James Hudson, county tax assessor-collector.

The 0.375425 rate is what the county would have to adopt to see no new monies coming in because of higher home and property valuations.

Commissioner pay hikes dominated Monday’s session. Wisian repeated herself several times, saying she would not take the pay raise. Commission Counsel said all commissioners have the right to turn back any portion of their salaries to the general fund.

Commissioner Richard Chapman said the commission needed to vote on the budget, including the pay, as planned due to the time constraints.

Wisian, Precinct 2 commissioner, will see her $74,723 pay jump to $91,800, a 23% increase.

She said she never asked for, and would not take, the amount she called “exorbitant” and well above the average 4% pay raise received by Kendall County employees. Other raises include: Precinct 1 Commissioner Christina Bergmann, $79,580 to $97,419, a 22% increase.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Chapman, $79,580 to $95,509, 20%.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Carpenter, $79,580 to $91,800, 15%.

County Judge Shane Stolarczyk, hospitalized last week and unable to attend Monday’s meeting, would see his $109,349 salary jump to $121,380, an 11% increase.

Despite the objections, commissioners approved the budget with a 4-0 vote.