By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Dec, 27, 2011

Mayor David Kaptain on Tuesday said he will press the City Council and city staff in January to initiate a survey of municipal salaries and benefits from around the nation to find out where Elgin’s employee compensation stands and whether it should be adjusted.

Kaptain mentioned his intent to bring the matter before the council next month as five of the seven members met for a special meeting at noon in City Hall to consider a personnel policy change related to a new law targeting pension spiking.

“In January, I would like to bring before the council committee of the whole a memo that will ask the staff to send out (requests for proposals) … for a salary and benefits survey for all city employees” for comparison with the same figures for municipalities around the nation, Kaptain said. He said that the survey will bear a significant cost but is needed because it has been six years or more since the city last conducted one.

He added he would like to see the firm chosen to do the work from outside the region and present a totally unbiased survey.

Councilman Richard Dunne  said Schaumburg recently completed just such a survey, which triggered pay freezes for some municipal employees who pay and benefits were considered high, and raises for those whose remuneration was considered low.

The mayor said the idea of a compensation survey arose with the Elgin Budget Advisory Task Force, as well as comments from community resident who had urged the City Council to consider cutting employee pay and benefits in lieu of creating new fees or setting new taxes.

Dunne added that he would like to see the survey include a wish list of city positions that are vacant or that have been considered but delayed due to budget concerns. That way, he said, if the city’s financial position improves to allow filling such positions, the city will have a reasonable idea what the compensation should be.