East Peoria Mayor John Kahl could be on track for a $24,000 raise starting next May.
The city council on Tuesday voted 3-1 in advancing the first reading of a salary increase for a full-time mayor, whether it’s Kahl or someone else. With no city administrator, the mayor handles all of East Peoria’s executive duties.
The proposal would increase the mayor’s base pay to slightly more than $128,700. Kahl currently makes around $104,700 in the final year of his second term.
“Every four years, we look at the market. We assess where the current rate [is] for the mayor, for a city administrator, and what we have in front of us today is an adjustment that we do based on the market,” said Commissioner Mark Hill.
City staff recommended the pay raise, estimating the salary for a separate city administrator alone likely would exceed $160,000.
Kahl abstained from the vote, while Commissioner Dan Decker dissented. He noted East Peoria faces additional unresolved payroll issues, in particular an ongoing labor negotiation with union firefighters.
“I’m someone that always believes that all salaries should be equivalent to what their job is, so I’m supportive of the idea,” said Decker. “But I’m afraid [of] doing so right now without fixing some of our other concerns in the city salaries.
“I think that by fixing one without fixing the other causes me concern, and I believe that will cause concern for a lot of employees as well.”
Kahl called Decker’s comments “absolutely insulting,” suggesting that connecting the mayor’s salary to the firefighters’ contract was not appropriate.
“The fact that we’re bringing up collective bargaining negotiation items in a public meeting nauseates me. I think this council is better than that. We have been so professional until tonight,” said Kahl.
The council needs to enact the salary increase 120 days prior to the next municipal election for it to be effective next May 1. Final approval of the raise is set for the Aug. 4 regular council meeting.
“I think it’s important to note that we’re not setting a salary for John Kahl. We’re setting a salary for the next mayor. But if that happens to be John Kahl, he deserves [it] and it’s worth every bit of $128,000,” said Commissioner Seth Mingus. “He works hard; the man doesn’t take days off.”
Kahl has not yet officially declared whether he will run for re-election, and no one else has announced their candidacy.
“We had discussions back in February because I didn’t want this to be a point of contention for anybody,” said Kahl. “What I didn’t want was going down to the wire and having this look like there’s a conflict from anybody, and that you guys were ‘doing this for John’ or I was doing this for myself.
“This is why I asked for this to come in front of council months ago. It kind of pisses me off that here we are tonight, and you’re going to sit there and insult me with what I think I’ve done for the last seven years and hold that over my head. Shame on you guys.”
If the measure is approved, it would apply to whomever serves as mayor beginning May 1, provided East Peoria continues to operate without a city administrator.
The ordinance prohibits the full-time mayor from holding other employment. Should the city choose to hire an administrator in the future, the mayor’s compensation would revert to levels established before the responsibilities were merged.
“If we’re going to choose between the rate that we’re paying Mayor Kahl right now and having to hire a city administrator at maybe $180,000-plus, plus have to pay for a mayor, I’m all for the way we’re doing it. We’re doing fine right now,” said Commissioner Mike Sutherland.
