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Champaign County board wrestles with raises for countywide elected officials amid budget shortfall
Summary
The board debated proposed pay adjustments for the county executive and county board members, including a suggested raise to the executive's salary and calls from members and the public to freeze or phase increases given an ongoing budget deficit and delayed audits.
The Champaign County Board spent a large portion of the meeting debating whether to raise salaries for countywide elected officials and whether to adjust board member pay.
Vice chair Farney presented a comparative salary memo showing Champaign County lagging peer counties on several elected-official pay scales and suggested raising the county executive's salary to about $95,548.69 while freezing the clerk and treasurer at their current levels. Multiple board members objected to significant increases while the county is operating under a structural deficit and while the fiscal 2024 audit remains incomplete.
During public input, resident Gabriel Dunn urged the board to avoid raises for elected officials while county programs and employees face cuts: "If we're telling everyone else that they're needing to tighten their belts, then I think elected officials need to tighten their belts as well," he said.
Board members offered competing views. Member Carter said the board has already made choices that reduced the executive's pay in the past and warned that a raise would be "a slap in the face" to county employees and constituents given budget pressures. Several members proposed alternatives: stepping increases over multiple years, adopting a modest 3% increase tied to staff raises, or creating stipends for extra responsibilities (committee chairs) rather than across-the-board raises.
Farney described his proposal as a data-driven starting point comparing Champaign County to 15 peer counties; he recommended keeping clerk and treasurer salaries flat given recent increases to those offices and moving the executive salary toward parity with peers. Other members, including Pew and Rogers, said the timing feels poor while budget uncertainty persists and asked for a narrower, number-driven resolution to be placed on next week's full-board agenda.
No final vote was taken; the board instructed staff to prepare a draft resolution with specific salary figures and options (freeze, step increases, stipend alternatives and COLA scenarios) for a formal vote at the full board meeting next week to meet statutory timing requirements.
