Village non-union employees who earned less then $100,000 during the last fiscal year are getting a 4% salary bump — while those earning more will see their salaries increase by 2%.

The village council voted unanimously on June 12 to approve the new salary ranges for most non-union employees. The ranges don’t necessarily represent the actual increases — they just set the floor and the ceiling for how each position gets paid. But this time around, the village made it clear from the get-go what the actual increases would be.

Last fall, Village Administrator Moses Amidei provided the Review with the department heads’ actual salaries. Based on those numbers, Director of Public Health & Safety Steve Glinke was the only department head to get a 4% salary bump — everybody else got the 2% increase. Overall, the increase comes out to more than $2,000 per department head this fiscal year, and Glinke will get $3,692 extra.

The council approves an ordinance dictating salary ranges — and, in a few cases, actual salaries — every year. The increases took effect on May 1, the start of the village’s fiscal year.

Under the new salary ranges, Fire Chief Phil Chiappetta and Police Chief Ken Gross, the highest-paid village department heads, will see their salaries go up from $143,095 to $145,957. Amidei’s salary will increase from $123,462 to $125,931.

The major goal of last year’s salary increases was to bring female department heads’ salaries more in line with their male counterparts — which led to some dramatic increases. This time, with the percentages the same, the increases are more even. Finance Director Letitia Olmsted’s salary will go up from $117,000 to $119,340. Village Clerk Vanessa Moritz, who also serves as Forest Park’s HR director, will see her salary increase from $102,000 to $104,040.  Mohr Community Center Director Karen Dylewski’s salary will go from $100,000 to $102,000.

Director of Public Works Sal Stella’s salary will rise from $108,000 to $110,160. And Glinke, who became the lowest-paid director in 2022 after Dylewski’s salary was increased by 19.74%, will see his salary go from $92,297 to $95,988 this year.

The new salary ordinance also raised school crossing guards’ salaries from $17.57 to $18.30 per hour. 

Mayor Rory Hoskins described this year’s increase as a “cost-of-living adjustment.” Commissioner of Accounts & Finance Maria Maxham challenged that characterization.

“I’m going to vote to support it, but I do feel a little uncomfortable with the notion that this is a cost-of-living adjustment,” she said. “If the cost of living goes up at a certain rate for everybody, then the salary adjustment should also go up at an equal rate.”

Maxham added that she understood the reason for structuring the salary increases that way, saying that the village was “trying to bring up the five non-union employees, to make their salaries a little more equitable.”

Hoskins asked if Maxham wanted to amend the ordinance, but the commissioner said she would vote on it as it is.

“Just for the record, I’ve gone back and forth on it a lot,” she said.