Sunday’s Daily Herald ran a large front page expose about the modest pay municipal official receive and suggested it would be reasonable to consider paying them better. The Watchdog disagrees.
If quality candidates were not running for office maybe it would be time to look at pay. But we are getting quality candidates and, in most cases, contested races. We want candidates running for the community, not a paycheck.
The other issue higher pay would bring is many of officials would never leave if they were making real money. It’s important to bring new ideas and fresh perspectives to any board. Incumbents rarely lose local positions … at least in Naperville. Good luck getting anyone to leave if they get a big check for the position. The Watchdog notes council does have a three term limit for councilmen but that only applies to consecutive terms (i.e. they can all run after 3 terms as long as they take a cycle off).
Until the day comes that no one with a good resume is running for local office the pay should be left as is. With respect to the coming Naperville race, it appears there will be at least 8 candidates running, most of whom have solid resumes and records of service in the community (6 of them even pay their real estate taxes).
Sorry officials, for now the Watchdog says no to meaningful raises but let’s check back on this in a few years and see if solid candidates are still running.
No. They agreed to the pay when they took the position.
Nope! Benny and Ian already got a big raise by not paying property taxes, then Benny has the gall to post pictures of him and his wife attending the Super Bowl! He’s got money for football games, but not enough to pay property taxes?! Disgusting.