2008: 110 Village of Schaumburg Employees Making $100K+ Per Year
February 3rd, 2009 | by Brian Costin Published in Blog, Transparency | 45 Comments
FOIA 2008 Village Treasurer’s Report
92 Village of Schaumburg employees made ($100K – $124,999).
16 Village of Schaumburg employees made ($125K+).
2 Village of Schaumburg employees making ($150K+).
110 Village of Schaumburg employees made over $100K in 2008.
Obtained via Freedom of Information Act request and now posted Village of Schaumburg’s website.
Village of Schaumburg Employees Making $100k+
2008 (110 employees), 2007 (42 employees), 2006 (39 employees), 2005 (30 employees)
See the story below on how the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition’s leadership in transparency led to the Village of Schaumburg posting salary information online for the first time in Village history below.
Schaumburg Transparency Project Scores Small Victory
$100,000 – $124,999:
1. Richard Anderson
2. David Antes
3. John Atamian
4. Philip Aufman
5. Larry Barchet
6. Steven Becker
7. Todd Bochenek
8. DAriusz Bochenek
9. William Brennan
10. John Brohan
11. Paul Bultinck
12. Maureen Cairns
13. Michael Carroll
14. Peter Castritsis
15. Frank Chambers
16. Dirk Christiansen
17. Paul Christiansen
18. Kenneth Chrobak
19. Gary Ciccola
20. Bruce Cram
21. Gary Darrow
22. Michelle Defer
23. Michael Diaferia
24. Nick Digioia
25. Patricia Donovan
26. Peter Dudek
27. Scott Finnander
28. Dennis Gatza
29. Michael Gerard
30. Michael Gust
31. Michael Hanley
32. David Hellmer
33. Brian Howerton
34. John Jameson
35. Scott Kasper
36. Gregory Klebba
37. Scott Kody
38. Richard Kolmay
39. Steven Lamprecht
40. Thomas Larson
41. Douglas Leschewski
42. Vince Liberio
43. Leonard Lynch
44. Michael Maggio
45. Elmer Mannina
46. Michael Marchese
47. Dawn McDermott Marsden
48. Brian McIntyre
49. Pamon Mir
50. Timothy Molitor
51. William Morris
52. Mark Nelson
53. Terrance O’Brien
54. Herbert Olujic
55. Armando Palacios
56. Derek Persson
57. Jon Plimpton
58. Michael Prafke
59. Kristine Provenzano
60. Richard Provenzano
61. Richard Riesterer
62. Michael Rizer
63. Paul Rizzo
64. Robin Ruisz
65. Marc Santoro
66. Dan Sarich
67. Denis Schmitt
68. John Schneidwind
69. Paul Schnetz
70. Thomas Selch
71. Tommy Smith
72. Matthew Sonnefeldt
73. Robert Specht
74. William Spencer
75. John Steele
76. Donald Suchomski
77. Marcus Sullivan
78. Alan Takei
79. Stephen Teolis
80. Jeffrey Theriault
81. Gerard Thommes
82. Mark Tieri
83. Scott Tillema
84. Douglas Ulmer
85. David Varner
86. Frank Wasielewski
87. Christopher Westgor
88. John Williams
89. Stewart Wing
90. Kenneth Wood
91. Phillip Wydra
92. Carmen Zepeda
$125,000 – $149,999:
1. Elizabeth Armistead
2. Richard Casler
3. Michael Conjura
4. Don Eller
5. Samuel Ferguson
6. Mark Harper
7. Paula Hewson
8. J Christopher Huff
9. June Johnson
10. Gerald Leska
11. Robert Levin
12. Darold Pitzer
13. David Schumann
14. Kathleen Tempesta
15. Steven Weinstock
16. David Wermes
$150,000 and above:
1. Douglas Ellsworth
2. Kenneth Fritz
Note: Schaumburg’s fiscal year ends April 31st every year. For example, the 2008 fiscal year is May 1st, 2007 thru April 31st, 2008.
Update: With a Freedom of Information Act request by the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition, we now have exact salary numbers for Village employees in Fiscal Year 2008. However, the Village did not provide us with the positions/job title of the employees as requested.
No related posts.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:46 PM (#)
It has come to my attention that the two lists provided to the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition thru Freedom of Information Act request have significant discrepancies. Salary information is not consistent between the 2008 Treasurer’s Report and the exact salary information later provided by the Village.
The SFC will be cross referencing the 2 Village-provided documents in the near future to address these concerns, and try to find out why the Village is providing contradictory salary information.
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March 19th, 2009 at 10:28 PM (#)
Who cares!
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Brian Costin Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 7:51 PM
I do and the taxpayers should too.
When government employees are significantly richer than the average taxpayers in our community it is a big problem. Why are there so many employees making double what an average Schaumburg family makes?
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April 5th, 2009 at 6:59 AM (#)
what the coalition needs to do to inform residents is to print this and deliver door to door this information. Most people do not take the time to find info like this so this is unknown. I just happened to stumble across it by accident. I can not believe their are 110 jobs in the village worth this kind of money, then if you add benifits and”perks I bet those 110 people cost the village over 25 million a year. And the stimulus money going to bike paths, runway improvement ( which is a laugh, that airport is landlocked and never gonna be any more than what it is now ) and LED lights is a joke. How about fixing some of the roads?????? forget the pretty medium strips and parks that the average citizen could care less about. All the village does is keep creating more jobs that cost tax payers money. FOR WHAT???????????
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Brian Costin Reply:
April 9th, 2009 at 9:59 AM
I agree. We need your help.
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April 12th, 2009 at 11:26 AM (#)
Brian how come you have not posted since you were given the answers as to why the increase on employees over 100K? You were given the answers by Mr. Fritz at a following board meeting. But of course your posts are one sided you you fail to post that. You are nothing but a grandstander & are not looking for answers but rather looking to make a name for yourself via negative attention & cause trouble. Nothing more than that. Most people see you for what you’re & laugh at you. It’s cheap amusement so carry on little man.
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Brian Costin Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 1:15 PM
The Village does not videotape their board meetings. I asked Mr. Fritz for a written statement & documentation to the question about the explosion of the $100K+ salaries. He refused to provide either.
If he does provide these I will be more than willing to post these answers on this site.
Please email Ken Fritz at kfritz@ci.schaumburg.il.us and ask him why he wont make a written statement or release the information about why there was and explosion in $100k+ salaries.
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April 12th, 2009 at 5:00 PM (#)
Nice try & poor excuse. You’re redirecting but not admitting that your question was answered. Typical answer but once again poor excuse. Try harder.
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April 12th, 2009 at 5:36 PM (#)
If you’re such the “advocate” that you say you are than post the answers you were given.
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Brian Costin Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 7:25 PM
“Joe”- I wasn’t given any answers. If you have the answer’s from the Village that I have asked for but not received you are more than willing to post them here in the comments section.
How can I post something that wasn’t given to me and hasn’t been posted to the Village website? I’m no mind reader.
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April 13th, 2009 at 6:08 AM (#)
You have selective memory as Mr. Fritz gave you a full explanation at the following meeting. You just refuse to accept it. I am not going to do your homework for you. Also, there is no reason for that to be posted to the village web site.
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Brian Costin Reply:
April 13th, 2009 at 11:32 AM
“Joe”-
You saying “There is no reason for that to be posted to the village web site” is is a great example of a Village board gone completely bad. When the Village Board, and people like you, claim that the people of Schaumburg don’t need answers & documentation to their questions including on how there was and explosion of $100k+ salaries it shows how much you and the Village board disrespect the people of Schaumburg.
Do you really think that the people of Schaumburg should be left in the dark like this?
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April 13th, 2009 at 11:42 AM (#)
This type of answer is typical of a politician who forgets the taxpayers are the ones who are footing the bill for the extravagant salaries & benefit packages of public employees.
You don’t answer the key question is why are public employees in Schaumburg making so much more money than it’s average citizens? The median HOUSEHOLD income for Schaumburg in the most recent census was slightly over $60,000. Why are so many government employees making over $100K? Why is Ken Fritz making over $200K per year, and more than any Governor, Senator, or Representative in the United States?
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April 13th, 2009 at 7:06 PM (#)
These employees are paid for what they are worth & that is the bottom line. Just because you & others make less is not a reason to be against this. There are many people in private sectors also making these salaries as they merit the salaries they are getting. Mr. Fritz is running a large corporation & merits his pay.
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Brian Costin Reply:
April 13th, 2009 at 9:07 PM
You believe that public sector employees deserve a much higher pay and benefits than they rest of us, and I think salaries and benefits for public sector employees should be comparable to the citizens they represent. Elitist Pay & Benefits vs. Comparable/Competitive Pay and Benefits.
I can see that the only thing we can agree on here is that we disagree.
Judging by the fact that you are anonymously posting to this website I wouldn’t be surprised if you are one of the Village administrators, workers, elected officials, or family members of these individuals who benefit from the high pay and benefits. I’m sure you will refuse to reveal your identity, say your not one of these people, etc., etc.
I don’t put much merit in the opinions of people who don’t have the courage to use their real names or intentionally don’t use their real names to hide their true motives. Everyone would take your opinions much more seriously if you did.
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April 13th, 2009 at 11:11 PM (#)
So anytime anyone criticizes excessive government pay & benefits they are just automatically jealous instead of looking out for the taxpayer? Thanks Dr. Phil but I recommend keeping your personal opinions to yourself.
So what is too much pay for government employees, three times the level of the area median income, four?
If $206K for Village Manager Fritz is O.K. then why not $300K or $400K or $1 Million. When does pay & salaries become excessive “Joe”?
Or do you think that money is no object, and the taxpayer’s are just something that you can abuse and tap for an endless source of money?
My agenda is crystal clear. I am promoting economic and personal freedom by trying to protect the taxpayers, lower taxes, and ensure a prosperous local economy.
What about you?
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April 14th, 2009 at 9:20 PM (#)
Actually, I agree with you on this one. Pay should be based on “merit, knowledge, etc.” with one caveat. That it should be in a competitive employment marketplace.
If there are two people equally qualified to do the job, and one is willing to do it for less cost to the taxpayers, the government has a duty to accept the lower bid. This is exactly the same principle that is used in bidding for contracted projects such as roads and buildings. The lowest bid of a qualified contractor usually wins the contract.
This isn’t done in regards to government salaries, but it should. All the people who apply with the adequate merit, knowledge, and other skills necessary to do the job should qualify be able to compete for the job. At that point the government should accept the lowest bidder for the job.
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April 15th, 2009 at 10:48 PM (#)
If I were you guys, I would check out the absurd salaries in School District 54. How about a ridiculous title of a “multi cultural” administrator named Julie Colgrove who probably makes over $100K for doing what? Many school districts are laying off teachers and tighten their belts. In school district 54, incompetent people are promoted to leach off the taxpayer.
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January 14th, 2010 at 8:30 AM (#)
I just ran into this web page . as a life long 40plus years
resident , i recognize alot of those names . mainly fire and police personnel. wow, 150k to drive around in a squad sign me up
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January 20th, 2010 at 2:22 PM (#)
I’d be interested to see the job titles posted next to names – b/c there may be some jobs that are worth the money – and just having the names doesn’t help me all that much. Would that be hard to post? I’m not sure if that info is given to you or if you would have to look it all up.
Thank you.
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January 28th, 2010 at 5:37 PM (#)
I’ve heard that all civilian employees did not get a cost of living raise last year nor will they be getting one this year. Does this include Ken Fritz and those high up in the civilian administration? I would be curious to know if that is the case. There are many civilian employees that are worth their pay and could have used that cost of living increase. If it turns out that all the little people that are out there busting their butts for this village didn’t get a raise last year or this year and the hire ups like Fritz got his that would really suck.
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January 30th, 2010 at 8:45 PM (#)
Brian-
I appreciate why residents would want (and deserve to know) the salaries of their public employees, but is it really necessary to print the employees names? Couldn’t the same be accomplished by printing just their positions? I really feel it is an unnecessary violation of their privacy.
Also it seems the police and fire personnel are some of those making over $100k, but isn’t that comparable pay to other communitites? From what I’ve read, it appears you believe they are over compensated. How do you purpose we compete against other communities for qualified applicants if we are going to pay less? Thanks in advance for the response.
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April 20th, 2010 at 8:39 PM (#)
many of these police officers work a lot of special details…which are paid by the private sector…. they pimp themselves out for easy money. The rest of the time they are milking d.u.i. arrests and shopping lifting arrests which are handed to them at the end of their shifts.
It doesn’t have to do with anything that benefits society only the effects of the lowely status trying to make it…. they aren’t much better…they just happen on an out and a solutions to make a living.
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Brian Costin Reply:
April 20th, 2010 at 8:45 PM
Zan-
You make a good point about special details. Multiple times the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition has asked the Village to itemize the wages so that we the citizens can understand the ins and outs of salaries & benefits. They have refused to provide such breakdown in violation of State Laws. We would love to know this information and would be more than willing to work with you to obtain it. Please contact the Village Board or Village Manager Ken Fritz to help make this happen.
Citizens deserve to know the whole story and public servants also should have an interest in making sure their government is transparent.
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Crazee Reply:
July 27th, 2010 at 4:03 PM
Until this year village “salaries” were never paid by 1 dime from property tax bills, these so called overpaid people are the very people who have to “stand-by” while citizens enjoy firework shows, baseball games, festivals etc. Basically wait to save a drunk kid from hisself, or stop a fight from getting everyone hurt cause booze is flowin at all the events.Funny how the village did not include how the majority of money made in excess of their actual salary was overtime, which needed to be filled because the village critically understaffs its shifts. As a former employee you would not believe me if I did tell you, but the sales tax is what pays the bills, or did until the economy took a dive, ask the mayor about his 1 million dollar a mile improvements, yes, that how much that crap costs. Now the fire & police have to fight for the right to just have a contract. They have to spend gobs of money on lawyers and they don’t get a contract settled for 3 yrs, then the village settles and gives them back pay in 1 lump sum. There are a million games these people play, don’t blame the swabs, go after the captain, better yet go to the board. why don’t renters have to pay any taxes for their kids who go to Schaumburg schools? Why isn’t someone charged when the Fire Dept has to respond to 30 alarm pulls in a apt. building? Everyone always has a problem with someone elses pro”s but never looks at the con’s. Whats it worth to you to fight a fire for 5 hrs in subzero temps, freeze your hands, and not know theyr actually burning? Whats it worth to hold dead children because their drunk dad went for a joy ride? What is the price for getting shot because your “gang” err “family” thought thats fun on a friday night? How about picking up your dead GRANDMOTHER with a coal shovel, because she died in the heat 3 weeks ago? Think that might be worth something? Would you do that for free, as everyone shouts your worth nothing? Did you people ever once think before you crab about what YOU don’t have? Did anyone out there request the records of how much money these “worthless” employees have to spend each and every year on their ongoing education, so that they can serve all of you ungrateful people? And lastly, whatever was given to you must have also included the price of dignity, determination and a willingness to do whats right, on or off duty, our taxes last in 2008 were 52,000, we are on that list, I’d like to know where the other 50,000 is
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October 12th, 2010 at 2:17 PM (#)
Who is “ROBERT SPECHT” and why is he listed in the “VILLAGE OF SCHAUMBURG TREASURER’S REPORT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED APRIL 30, 2010″ (see the following link: http://www.ci.schaumburg.il.us/SiteCollectionDocuments/Treasurer%27s%20Report%204-30-10%20-%20searchable.pdf) as making in the $149,999-$174,999 range in Payroll and in the $75,000 – $99,999 range in Pension paymemts. Are you kidding me? Is this an elected official or appointed role? I don’t care what he does / did for the village, I think serving the community and making a living off the payments of the people from taxes (regardless of the tax type) should be short-term and on a limited pay basis to SERVE the community only. If you want to make a lot of money, which I am all for, go work in the private sector and create it by doing something in commerce to create it. Serving in a community role is done for the betterment of the community not for the betterment of oneself. This information defionitely needs to be widely broadcast across the community. It is insane how many people are making over $100k / year in this village. How many village jobs require someone who can earn at that level? If we need to do without all the spending on events and whatever, than do so and provide just what we need to have a safe community and forget about all the other things no one really needs or serve only a amall % of the people.
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Brian Costin Reply:
October 12th, 2010 at 2:25 PM
Mike-
You are not alone in bringing this to my attention. I will be looking into it VIA Freedom of Information act. Robert Specht is someone who recently retired and accumulated lots of sick/leave days and cashed them out at the time of retirement. What is curious to me is the very large pension payment in the same year as receiving in excess of $150K in salary.
There are questions that remain unanswered in that regards which I will get to the bottom of.
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December 16th, 2010 at 11:23 PM (#)
Your numbers are inaccurate. I am on your list and I have NEVER made $100 in the 10+ years I have been on the force. Why don’t you explain that you have tallied up vacation time, compensatory time, and sick time and added those to the “salary” in order to fluff your numbers because one of two things is happening, you are either doing that, or you are just making up those figures. In your present job do you add up all your sick time and vacation time and include those in your “salary” when you pay your taxes? Didn’t think so.
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Brian Costin Reply:
December 16th, 2010 at 11:41 PM
My numbers are accurate as they were obtained directly from the Village of Schaumburg. These numbers are from the 2008 Treasurer’s Report and are for the dates between May 1, 2007 to April 30th, 2008. They are posted on the Village of Schaumburg website here.
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COP Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 12:51 AM
No, Mr Costin, they are not…trust me, I have worked as an employee for the Village of Schaumburg, and for you to say that I have EVER made more than 100K since my employ there is NOT accurate. I think it’s really irresponsible for you to tell me what my salary has been since I am the one with the paycheck that reflects the amount that I bring home. You can sit there and say that you have some report saying that I made that much and I can show you a my tax forms that show that I did not make 100k in 2008 even BEFORE I paid taxes. Your numbers are NOT accurate…furthermore, I know I’m not the exception to your erroneous numbers after talking to the officers I work closely with they did not make the figures you reflect either.
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COP Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 1:06 AM
Just for purposes of argument I checked my YTD Gross and Net for the paycheck I received on 12/18/09 and my GROSS was approximately 15K less than what you claim I took home the previous year, and my NET take home was 30K less than what you claimed I made THE PREVIOUS YEAR…according to what you say, I would have made 30K less in 09 than I did in 08. Oh and 2010 was a fat year in my household…add 4k more in GROSS and 2.8K more in NET for me as of 12/16/10…believe me, your numbers are far from accurate. I understand you want to push Larson out, but if you’re going to claim that the police are overpaid, look at what their take home salaries are and report that…when you include vacation time, sick time, and the 3 personal days we get every year, your numbers become skewed as that is not truly part of our salary.
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Brian Costin Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 7:20 AM
I appreciate you commenting on this blog. One thing to point out. These figures are not from January 1st through December 31st. They are from May 1st, 2007 through April 30th, 2008, which coincides with the Village’s Fiscal Year. This may be where the confusion is.
I do not make up numbers. Let me repeat, I do not make up numbers. Everything I post here is directly obtained from the Village of Schaumburg.
They even appear on the Village of Schaumburg website.
I have found the Village of Schaumburg has very poor fiscal controls and record keeping. They don’t even have documentation of what employees total compensation packages are.
This is extremely disappointing. How can the citizenry be informed on what it is paying it’s employees when the Village doesn’t even keep track of total compensation? We have no idea if are employees are underpaid or overpaid.
It’s no real surprise to me that there has been 15 tax hikes in the last 10 years alone.
COP Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 1:10 AM
And to show you that I’m not in total disagreement with some of your ideas, you are right about 3 things, the ballpark, the convention center, and the airport are all big wastes of money…I have always agreed with that…furthermore, the trolleys are also a waste of money in addition to the beautification projects that the village has been a part of.
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Brian Costin Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 7:25 AM
Thank you for that. Did you know that since the Village of Schaumburg broke ground on the Convention Center project that we have cut 40 positions in the police department and 17 positions in the Fire Department?
We have totally lost sight of what is important. In my mind the important core government services are Police, Fire, Public Works (Streets & Sanitation), not things like the ball park, convention center, airport.
Let me assure you I would never put out information that I believed to be inaccurate. I’m doing the best I can with the limited information I have. Everything I get is directly from the Village.
Feel free to contact me at any time to voice your concerns.
COP Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 9:38 AM
And as for this statement, I agree with you, our department is and has been required to do more with less…especially our police department…guys retire but they’re slow to replace them…Unfortunately, someone is going to get hurt before something is done about this.
Brian Costin Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 10:04 AM
I too am concerned about less police and less fire protection out on the streets. Not only does it place our citizens at risk it places our police and fire department workers at risk as well.
December 17th, 2010 at 8:13 AM (#)
For an accurate representation of a Schaumburg Police Officer salary, simply google “Schaumburg Police Salary”, it’s right there in the recruitment brochure. I will post it as follows:
COMPENSATION
There are five steps to reach top salary:
Start_ Year 4
05/01/09 $53,073 – $78,339
05/01/10 $55,196 – $81,473
05/01/11 $57,404 – $84,732
05/01/12 $59,700 – $88,121
THIS is accurate. This, of course does not reflect overtime pay or incentive pay but it accurately reflects the base GROSS pay of a Schaumburg Police Officer. In 2009, I was being compensated at top base pay which means that without including any overtime or incentive pay, I was receiving $78,339. In actuality, due to overtime and incentive pay, I GROSSED 85K and actually took home $70K. For anyone reading this blog who would be willing to trade me my 2009 salary based on my W-2 for 100K, bring your checkbook and I’d be more than happy to meet with you and believe me I’ll go away smiling (and, again, I am one of the officers listed on this page). In FACT, I’ll trade you what I made in 2008 OR 2009 for even 90K and STILL walk away with TALL profit, whether it’s between Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, or May 1 – Apr 30 Or ANY other one year period.
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Brian Costin Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 8:32 AM
If you still believe there is an error please contact the Village of Schaumburg’s Director of Finance, Douglas Ellsworth. His phone number is 847.923.4532 and his email is dellsworth@ci.schaumburg.il.us.
He is the person in charge all financial documents & statements. I obtained the document directly from the Village of Schaumburg.
I do believe in full government transparency and think that all of a Village employee’s regular remuneration including allowances, overtime pay, commissions, and bonuses, health care, pensions, etc., should be reported.
Similar to what Hoffman Estates does.
It is important to note many police officers work overtime or special voluntary details that increase their total pay.
I can only report what I get from the Village.
Sorry I can’t provide a better answer for you.
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COP Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 9:28 AM
Well, I appreciate that Mr. Costin, but my point is not a question of belief, but a matter of FACT. I don’t need to contact Doug to tell me what I made in 2008. You’re putting facts and figures from people you don’t know ABOUT people you don’t know on here. It doesn’t really matter what you know or think you know about the salaries of the Police employees of the Village of Schaumburg, but, and take it for what it’s worth, you’re wrong. You’re reporting paper value as actual value. I don’t know what you do as a director of outreach, but I’m guessing that when you get that paycheck every two weeks as I assume you do you don’t take all your sick time or vacation time and figure that into your salary as money in hand. Do you honestly drive around Schaumburg, and I mean ask yourself HONESTLY, see a squad car and think to yourself “that cop makes $100,000 or more a year”? Really? Seriously? Because you have much of the department on that list. OR, is it more likely to point at that same officer and say “with all the vacation and sick time that he/she has accrued, and with all their health benefits they are allotted, he/she is worth more than $100,000 ON PAPER”….the problem is, I think, in your mind, you DO know that, but it sounds better and it’s better for your cause to get people in an uproar. People who are naive enough to just take what you’re putting on here as gospel without truly considering how stupid it is to think that 92 members of the Schaumburg Police Department made 100-125K in 2008. That doesn’t even pass the laugh test. OK, Hmmm, that guy who is standing there when it’s 4 degrees directing traffic at Portillo’s is doing it because, although he’s raking in SIX figures this year, he could use that extra few dollars and who wouldn’t? Four degrees isn’t THAT cold….he does have a hat, after all….Mr. Costin, I know you’ll defer to your standard statement of “well, I’m just reporting what the village says, and I don’t know what else to go by because that’s all the numbers I have”….If you want to believe that rhetoric your putting on here now, ok, but I’m hoping that IF you get to be Mayor of Schaumburg, when you have all the facts and figures at your disposal of the salaries of the members of my department, you’ll retract, or at least clarify the erroneous figures you’ve posted on this blog. There’s no doubt in my mind you’ll find you’re wrong about our “salaries” in 2008, but whether you’ll admit that or not I guess remains to be seen.
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COP Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 9:42 AM
Oh and for the record I’m not one of the officers who actually lives in town, so my interest in this issue is not quite the same as officers who do and have been hit hard by the property tax increase…I just want the people I work with (as well as myself) to be accurately represented and not demonized.
Brian Costin Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 10:03 AM
Agreed. I am doing my best to educate myself and the people of Schaumburg about the issues facing this community. Transparency is not about vilifying anyone it’s about getting out accurate information to the public.
I’m confident that I’ve done everything in my power to educate and inform the public accurately about public employee compensation in the Village of Schaumburg. Unfortunately, I can do nothing now to change how the Village has reported this information in the past.
I hope to improve transparency if elected.
Brian Costin Reply:
December 17th, 2010 at 9:49 AM
Absolutely, I agree with you. If I’m elected Mayor I would do everything in my power to make sure that the Village of Schaumburg accurately records and reports the total compensation for each employee, and the citizens have access to those figures online, just like Hoffman Estates.
Those figures should note base salary, overtime, uniform allowance, car allowance, longevity pay, special detail pay, retroactive pay, health & life insurance benefits, pension contributions, sick pay, vacation, and anything I’ve neglected to mention.
The taxpayers deserve accurate statements, and so do the municipal workers.
I have made Freedom of Information Act requests for just such a document in 2008, 2009, & 2010. Each time I have been told that “no such document exists”.
To me as a citizen and taxpayer it is SCARY that my Village government doesn’t have documentation for the total compensation packages of its employees. How can a business be well run without that information?
February 16th, 2011 at 9:28 PM (#)
Mr. Costin, could you please look into the salaries of the community development office? I think you’ll find the essence of financial irresponsibility within this department. It would also be worthy to note that the community development dept. is the most mismanaged and corrupt, or at least the epicenter of controversy and scandal considering the director (Mr. Huff) resigned from his seat after not being able to produce answers to taxpayers when you questioned why Martingale commercial buildings were applying for blighted incentives. In your FOIA for employee salaries which dates back a little while, the new director (Julie Somers) salary info is missing. Considering she has been a long time affiliate of the dept. and close friend of Christopher Huff, I think it is important for tax payers to know or the village to justify how Ms. Somers qualified for the job and what salary she has been awarded. The most disgusting thing for a tax-payer to see is one crook replaced by a bigger one, please look into this.
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February 16th, 2011 at 9:50 PM (#)
The village website has her name spelled Julie Somers and Julie Summers, Nobody knows which name is accurate nor does anyone care but neither names are listed on the employee salary list. The authority of hiring municipal staff is in the hands of village manager Ken Fritz. Ms. Summers/Somers was a former employee of the village and it is worth looking into what job she formerly held and all of a sudden what position she is sitting in now. I think one important concept private citizens are focusing around when it comes to village salaries, is that they should reflect the same value as the private markets. I think any economics professor could show gross differences in pay from the private marketplace and government jobs that entail the same job duties and scope of employment.
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June 23rd, 2011 at 9:31 PM (#)
I cannot believe that over-ambitious and incompetent Maureen Cairns makes over $100,000 per year. It is a sad state of affairs in our village when we allow someone of that low caliber to remain on the payrole.
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