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Elected Official Compensation

Compensation Overview

Under Illinois law, and with respect to elected officials, the terms “compensation,” “salary,” and “stipend” are synonymous and refer to fixed, periodic, payments of money, paid to elected officials, for the performance of their duties. The vehicle allowances described below also constitute salary or compensation under Illinois law. For the purposes of the table below, “total compensation” means the sum of all compensation, salary, stipends, or vehicle allowances paid to each of the County's elected officials for the performance of their duties.

While the State’s Attorney and Clerk of the Circuit Court (Circuit Clerk) are technically state officers and the Regional Superintendent of Schools (Regional Superintendent) is an officer of an educational service region, they are included in the above table because the County Board, at least in part, determines their compensation or provides for the budget of their respective offices. Salary changes tend to become effective on the anniversary of the start of each officer's term of office. For most officers, salary changes are effective on December 1, except for the Chairman and Members of the County Board whose changes become effective on the first Monday in December, and for the Regional Superintendent whose changes become effective on July 1. The Illinois Constitution expressly prohibits the County Board from making mid-term changes in the salary of the County Officers, as well as the salaries of the Chairman and members of the County Board which take effect during their current terms of office – though the County Board may provide for annual salary changes as long as they adopt an ordinance or resolution establishing a salary schedule prior to 180 days before the start of an elected official's term of office.

Elected Official State Salary1 County Salary2 State Stipend1 Other County Salary / Stipend2 Vehicle Allow. Total Comp.
State’s Attorney $183,434.00 Not Authorized Not Established Not Authorized $5,400.00 $188,834.00
Circuit Clerk Not Established $168,814.00 Not Established Not Authorized $5,400.00 $174,214.00
Regional Superintendent $116,300.00 $33,911.00 Not Established Not Authorized $5,400.00 $155,611.00
Auditor Not Established $151,362.00 $6,500.00 Not Authorized $5,400.00 $163,262.00
County Clerk Not Established $151,363.00 $6,500.00 $0.00 $5,400.00 $163,263.00
Coroner Not Established $151,362.00 $6,500.00 Not Authorized $5,400.00 $163,262.00
Recorder of Deeds Not Established $151,362.00 $6,500.00 Not Authorized $5,400.00 $163,262.00
Sheriff* Not Established $174,891.00 $6,500.00 $0.00 $5,400.00 $186,791.00
Treasurer Not Established $151,363.00 $6,500.00 Not Authorized $5,400.00 $163,263.00
County Board Chair Not Established $131,559.00 Not Established $0.00 $5,400.00 $136,959.00
County Board Member Not Established $52,102.00 Not Established Not Authorized Not Established $52,102.00

* Under Section 4-6003 of the Counties Code, the County Board provides the Sheriff with an annual uniform allowance in the amount of $650.
** The current office holder has declined this allowance

  1. Determined by State Law
  2. Determined by County Ordinance

Salary

The County Board determines the salaries of its members, its Chairman, the Circuit Clerk, the Auditor, County Clerk, Coroner, Recorder of Deeds, Sheriff, and Treasurer. The State of Illinois determines the salary of the State’s Attorney based on the population of the county he or she serves and the salary of the Regional Superintendents based on the population of the educational service region he or she serves and increased annually in accordance with the consumer price index in an amount not to exceed 2.9%. To mitigate differences in costs of living, Illinois law authorizes the County Board to provide additional compensation to the Regional Superintendent. Subject to appropriation, the State reimburses the County for a portion of the State’s Attorney’s salary and pays the full amount of the state-set portion of the Regional Superintendent’s salary.

Stipends

Illinois law imposes additional duties on several of the County officers, requiring them to perform services on behalf of the State, rather than the County. To compensate these officers for their additional responsibilities, the State of Illinois provides them with additional salary in the form of a lump sum stipend paid from State, rather than County funds. Illinois law generally regards these stipends to be “in addition to” or “separate and apart” from the compensation established by the County Board and prohibits the County Board from reducing or impairing the salaries of a County officer as a result of these stipends. The Circuit Clerk’s stipend is established in the Clerk of Courts Act, while the stipends of the Auditor, County Clerk, and Recorder, the Coroner stipend per State of Illinois, the Sheriff stipend per State of Illinois, and the Treasurer stipend per State of Illinois, are established in various sections of the Counties Code.

By virtue of their elective offices, the County Board Chairman and the Sheriff also hold the statutory offices of the County’s Liquor Control Commissioner and the Supervisor of Safety, respectively. The County’s Liquor Ordinance provides that the County Clerk is the Secretary to the Liquor Control Commissioner. While Illinois law authorizes the County Board to provide compensation to these officers for their additional duties, it discontinued the practice in 2014.

Vehicle Allowance

The Counties Code requires the County Board “to provide reasonable and necessary expenses for the use of the…county clerk, county treasurer, recorder, sheriff, coroner, State's attorney, superintendent of schools… and clerks of courts…” Previously, the County Board assigned each of these officers a county-owned vehicle for their use. Beginning in 1998, the County Board began to authorize vehicle allowances for these officers and the Chairman of the County Board. In 2000, the County made the allowance available to all officers elected countywide and set the allowance at $450/month once an officer turned his or her vehicle. At the time, the County Board determined that the vehicle allowance was a more economically appropriate way of providing for travel expenses incurred by these officers. The vehicle allowance, which has not been changed since 2000, represents a predictable, fixed expense for the County and allows it to avoid the costs associated with fueling, insuring, maintaining, and registering a County-owned vehicle. The officers who receive a vehicle allowance are not entitled to mileage reimbursement.

Other Benefits

The County’s elected officials may participate in, or opt out from, the employee benefits the County offers to its employees including health and dental insurance on the same terms as other employees. Elected officials pay the same rates for participation in the insurance programs as do other employees and are similarly eligible to receive “opt out” payments if they choose not to participate in the health insurance program or dental programs offered by the County. Opt out payments for health and dental insurance are $75 and $10 per month, respectively.

Under Illinois law, elected officials may participate, at their option, in pension programs authorized by the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF), or in the case of the Regional Superintendent, the Teacher Retirement System (TRS). Elected officials generally contribute the same portion of their salaries to their pensions as do other employees. If an elected official previously chose to participate in one of three alternative benefit plans previously available through IMRF for elected county officials known as ECO, he or she must pay a higher proportion of his or her salary towards their pension. ECO plans were closed to new participants in August of 2011.

Elected officials are not eligible for personal, sick or vacation time.

References

Relevant information pertaining to the salaries and other benefits afforded to the County’s elected officials are available here:

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