Elmhurst Officials Get Far Less Than Township Trustees
ELMHURST, IL – Members of school boards in Illinois get no pay. That’s state law.
But that’s not the case with township governments, which have smaller budgets and functions.
Elmhurst is covered by two townships – York in the south and Addison in the north. Each township has a board of four trustees.
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In York, trustees make $7,500 a year. In Addison, they get $6,000.
This is far more than what city officials receive in Elmhurst. A township trustee makes nearly as much as Elmhurst’s mayor, Scott Levin, whose salary is $8,400. City aldermen make $2,400. (The mayors and village boards in Hinsdale and Western Springs receive no pay.)
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Elmhurst’s elected city officials attend about 50 meetings a year. That works out to about $50 a meeting for an alderman, not including the time they spend studying issues and speaking with constituents.
The York and Addison township boards each met 13 times last year.
A look at the entities’ finances also shows a big gap. York and Addison townships’ annual budgets are $8.7 million and $5.1 million, respectively.
By contrast, Elmhurst School District 205’s is $177 million, while the city’s is $122 million, according to state comptroller reports.
Addison Township Supervisor Dennis Reboletti did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, York Township Supervisor John Valle said trustee salaries for DuPage County’s townships range from $3,900 to $8,040. He said pay for York Township’s trustees has stayed the same since 2016.
In 2020, Valle said, the board reviewed salaries and determined they were within range considering the population and services offered.
“I acknowledge your request about the city council of Elmhurst, but that council is 14 members and makes for a hard comparison to our board of 4 trustees,” Valle said. “Within our township, the Village of Lombard Board has 6 trustees that each earn $6,100. Both have total salaries that are cumulatively higher than our 4 trustees.”
He listed the services that the township offers.
Under state law, townships must handle three functions – maintenance of roads, assessment of properties for tax purposes and distribution of “general assistance” to the poor.
In the suburbs, townships often add a variety of social services to their responsibilities.
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