The majority of Oak Park’s village board members said they support raising the salaries for future village presidents, trustees and clerks.
There was no vote after the discussion at Tuesday’s meeting, and new salaries, if approved, would not go into effect immediately. The trustees and president who are elected, or reelected, in April 2025 would be the first to earn the new salary. Those on the board for another two years would not see a new salary until the next election in April 2027.
Trustee Cory Wesley motioned, and Trustee Brian Straw seconded, to discuss village board compensation Tuesday as part of the agenda, indicating their support of significant increases. They pointed out that lower salaries can make it difficult for folks without a certain level of privilege to run. That can exclude diverse candidates.
“Historically, local elected officials have been thought of as a hobby, which is weird for a position that makes multi-million-dollar decisions practically every week,” Wesley said.
However, Village President Vicki Scaman pointed out, the current board is one of the most diverse Oak Park has seen.
Trustee Ravi Parakkat, who is running for village president in 2025, said he was strongly opposed to raising salaries for the president or trustees. He said these are part-time positions, and rather than raising salaries to accommodate for full-time work, maybe resident or board expectations need to be shifted.
The trustees discussed each position separately.
Village clerk
The village clerk, as a full-time elected position, makes $76,625 annually. The salary was last raised in 2008. The clerk is also allowed the same benefits as a village staff member, including health insurance, paid leave and a pension contribution.
Straw said he believes the responsibilities of the clerk position would be equivalent to a grade 10 position in the village, including roles like chief communications officer or chief sustainability officer. The salary range for those roles is $111,000 to $161,000, he said.
“We could have an elected village clerk looking at whether or not [they] should resign and take a job in village government because [they] could get a 50% raise,” he said.
Wesley said that if the current salary for clerk was adjusted for inflation, it would be roughly $102,000 today. With 3% annual raises, that salary would be about $112,000 today, he said.
This role is unique, Wesley said, not only because it mandates overtime work but also because the clerk has to live in Oak Park, where the cost of living is higher than some neighboring communities.
Other trustees agreed a raise for the clerk position is long overdue. They landed on a consensus of about $107,000.
Village president
The village president makes $25,200 annually. This salary, along with the trustees, was last raised in 2017.
It’s difficult to be a village president in Oak Park and work a typical “9 to 5” job, Straw said. Residents expect a certain level of service, so the board should align its expectations with that rather than telling them to expect something different, he said.
But Parakkat disagreed. He said Oak Park has a village manager form of government for a reason, and because the manager handles the day-to-day operations, the president and trustees can be part-time. He said Oak Park has not been ill-served with the selected boards and candidates have still been attracted to serve.
“If we feel like we are spending more time and putting [in] more effort, then maybe we should reexamine how we are playing the role,” he said. “You cannot say just because somebody wants to play it fulltime, that the compensation needs to reflect that.”
“I don’t think that we’ve had a part-time village president since I’ve lived in this village,” Wesley later countered. “I don’t think the village of Oak Park expects a part-time village president. Now whether or not they ultimately end up getting one, that’s not up for me to decide.”
Scaman, who is running for reelection in 2025, did not comment on the village president salary at the meeting.
The consensus was to consider raising the salary to $40,000.
Village trustee
Each village trustee makes $15,000 annually. Trustees Lucia Robinson and Chibuike Enyia, who are both running for reelection in 2025, recused themselves from the discussion.
Wesley pointed out that the more time a trustee puts into the role, the better they are at it. It’s not possible to be an expert in everything, but trustees do have to know a lot, he said.
He added that he wonders if the next trustee filling his seat will have the same diverse opinions. Statistically, that person won’t be Black, he said, due to the economic privilege it takes to fill the role.
“When I think about what the salary is for this position, I don’t think about it as in ‘How can this salary pay for someone’s full ride here in Oak Park?’” he said. “I don’t think about ‘How can this salary make someone rich?’ I think about ‘How can this salary not be a hurdle to making someone want to take this job?’”
Parakkat argued it would be more helpful to run board meetings so they finish at 10 p.m. rather than raising the salary.
The majority of the board present agreed to consider raising the salary to $23,000.
Trustees are expected to vote on separate ordinances related to raises for each position Oct. 29.
