Forty-five out of 50 Chicago aldermen have opted to accept a 5.5% pay increase in 2022 that will push the highest paid among them to an annual salary of more than $130,000, according to The Chicago Tribune.
The ones who turned in paperwork to the city by a Sept. 15 deadline indicating they wanted to decline the raises were Raymond Lopez, 15th; Silvana Tabares, 23rd; Felix Cardona, 31st; Gilbert Villegas, 36th; and Matt Martin, 47th. [UPDATE: George Cardenas, 12th Ward, was originally included in the list, but later said he never had any intention of turning down the raise, and there was "some kind of mix-up"—likely involving one of his staffers wrongly filing the form.]
For everyone else, the raises will start Jan. 1, 2022. They include the three sitting aldermen who are facing criminal charges in federal court—Patrick Daley Thompson, 11th Ward; Edward Burke, 14th; and Carrie Austin, 34th.
Lopez was the only one of the council's LGBTQ alderpersons to reject the raise. Other members of the LGBTQ Caucus include Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th Ward; Tom Tunney, 44th; James Cappleman, 46th; and Maria Hadden, 49th.
The lowest-paid alderman is Marty Quinn, of the 13th Ward; he makes $109,812, according to city records. At the other end, 31 aldermen each make $123,504.
The Tribune previously revealed that next year's increase will be the biggest by percentage in more than a decade.
The full Tribune article is at www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-chicago-aldermen-pay-raises-city-council-20210915-bvqe75rky5hw3nwkssvr63n3xi-story.html.
