Ogle County Board OKs pay increases for members

OREGON – Ogle County Board members approved salary increases for whoever sits in their chairs after the November 2022 election.

“Those numbers, they’re not the highest, they’re not the lowest in the area,” board member John “Skip” Kenney said. “We used UCCI [United Counties Council of Illinois] as a guide and we came up with something we feel is quite fair, quite workable.”

Kenney chairs the county Personnel and Salary Committee, which set forth the proposal for the salary increases.

The county board chairperson will make $25,000 annually, plus mileage. The county board vice chairperson will make $15,000 a year, plus mileage. Neither will receive additional compensation for attending any meetings.

Regular county board members will be paid the following for meetings:

• Committee chairperson: $100 a meeting, plus mileage;
• Committee vice chairperson: $75 a meeting, plus mileage;
• Regular committee member: $70 a meeting, plus mileage;
• No pay for missed meetings.

The mileage rate set by the Internal Revenue Service is 56 cents a mile.

If the county board decides to hire a county administrator, then the county board chairperson’s salary would be reduced to $15,000 and the county board vice chairperson’s salary to $5,000 at the start of their next terms.

“Up to this point, if you didn’t make your meetings, you were entitled to be paid for three [meetings],” Kenney told fellow board members. “That no longer is in this package. You’re paid to be here and to do your job, and if you’re unable to be here and do your job, you will not be compensated.”

The new salaries – which were passed on a 16-3 vote – go into effect Dec. 1, 2022, which is the start of fiscal 2023. The terms of all current county board members end Nov. 30, 2022.

Board members Zachary Oltmanns, Dean Fox and Lyle Hopkins voted no.

“I don’t believe in voting on a pay raise for myself,” Hopkins said.

Board Chairperson John Finfrock and board members Rick Fritz, Marcia Heuer, Wayne Reising and Thomas Smith were absent.

County board members currently make at least $1,800 a year – $150 a month for up to three meetings and an additional $50 per diem for any subsequent meetings in a month.

The county board chairperson currently makes at least $4,800 a year. It includes a base of $250 a month, plus the regular county board member salary. That rate was set May 15, 2001, according to the Ogle County Board rules of order.