County Increases Per Diem Meeting Pay

Kendall County Board members voted to eliminate special stipends for two committee leaders Tuesday but gave future office-holders a small raise.

The board members voted, 5-3, to increase the $85 per diem to $90 in December 2016 and to $95 in December 2020. Per diem is the pay county board members receive for each day they attend county board meetings, county board committee meetings, or meetings of organizations to which they have been appointed.

Per diem pay – which county board members receive on top of health benefits, a $200 monthly salary and mileage reimbursement – lately.

Finance Committee Chair Anne Vickery is reviewing her colleagues’ pay vouchers from December 2010 through February 2012 after alleging a political opponent, County Board member Dan Koukol, was improperly paid for 49 meetings. Koukol, who chairs the board’s Economic Development Committee, has said County Board Chairman John Purcell for attending economic development functions.

County board members didn't take any action on their own health insurance at their meeting Tuesday morning.

“All those discussions are going to keep going,” Vickery said.

Vickery listed off the county’s cost for providing that insurance this fiscal year. Vickery said medical benefits cost $87,734 for eight board members; her calculations included $12,914 for John Purcell, whose family is covered by his wife, Jackie, who works for the county coroner’s office.

The cost, per official, for other board members are:

The county board members voted, 6-2, to eliminate the $3,000 annual stipend for the chairmen of the Finance Committee and the Planning, Building and Zoning Committee in December. Voting against it were Koukol and Purcell. Board members Suzanne Petrella and John Shaw were absent.

When it came to increasing the per diem pay, Nancy Martin, Wehrli and Flowers voted against the raises.

Both those changes will have to be incorporated into the Board Rules of Order by a 2/3-majority vote, State’s Attorney Eric Weis said.