Who doesn’t want to make more money?
Almost everyone would jump at the chance to make an extra buck. So we have to hand it to the 15 City Council members who said “no” to a 9.62% pay raise in the upcoming year.
As we stated last month, turning down a pay hike — which would boost the maximum alderperson salary to $142,772 — is the right move at a time when many Chicagoans are struggling to make ends meet.
Other workers have to state their case for a raise. But council members, regardless of skill or effectiveness, have since 2006 received automatic annual pay increases tied to inflation, unless they opt out.
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th), one of the 15 council members who rejected the 2023 pay hike and who has turned down raises in the prior two years, is trying to put his foot down with a proposed ordinance to end the perk.
There’s no need to beat around the bush. Lopez, a longtime critic of Lori Lightfoot, has thrown his hat in the ring and is among those hoping to unseat the mayor next year. We suspect his ordinance, expected to be introduced at a Sept. 21 City Council meeting, is meant to garner support from hard-working voters who haven’t seen a jump in their salaries for years.
Not every provision in the proposal is practical. But we’re on board with this: Putting a cap — Lopez proposes 3% — on future pay raises, which are meant to keep pace with inflation.
Taxpayers who have to make a case for a raise deserve some protection from steep increases that will come out of their wallets, especially when it comes to pay for alderpersons who don’t deliver for constituents.
Lopez’s ordinance would also reduce to $120,000 the annual salary for newly elected council members and the veteran alderpersons who accepted their pay raises. Those salaries would remain the same for four years.
The ordinance would also prohibit council members from holding an outside job, a proposal that’s not likely to sit well with some of his colleagues.
Eliminating outside income would curb corruption and the “appearance of impropriety,” he said. That sounds great in theory, though we can’t help but think that scoundrels will behave improperly and find ways to bilk the public whether they’re working full-time or not.
Lopez is right when he says it’s time to re-evaluate the automatic pay hikes since many of his colleagues “can’t be trusted to reject it outright.”
But he also needs to be realistic. An ordinance that will be flat-out voted down will be of no help.
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