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Stroger's cousin gets 12% hike
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Took CFO post last year for lower pay
-- that was then
Chicago Sun-Times
By Steve Patterson, Staff Reporter
March 24, 2008
When Cook County Board President Todd Stroger introduced
his cousin Donna Dunnings as the county's new chief financial
officer last year, they each boasted of the savings taxpayers
would realize. She would take a salary far less than the previous
CFO.
That was then.
Records show Dunnings is set to get a bigger raise than any
other county employee in Stroger's budget -- a 12 percent
increase -- as part of the 2008 budget.
The average county raise is about 5 percent for most employees,
records show. Those working in Dunnings' office will get,
on average 3.5 percent raises.
Dunnings will make nearly $160,000 with the pay increase --
about $5,000 more than Tom Glaser did in the job.
Dunnings, the county's former budget director who previously
worked for the assessor's office, currently makes $142,000.
Dunnings' double-digit jump is because "she's doing twice
the work she was before and has more responsibilities,"
said Stroger spokesman Gene Mullins.
"She only took [less pay] when we didn't have any money,"
he said, referring to the just-passed 1 percentage point sales
tax increase that is so substantial, it will ultimately give
county government more money than it needs to operate.
In fighting for that tax, Stroger repeatedly asked taxpayers
and commissioners to make sacrifices for the good of county
government.
Stroger spokeswoman Ibis Antongiorgi later said Dunnings initially
took the lower salary "because of her commitment to the
county and public service."
Since then, however, Dunnings' performance "warranted"
the large raise, Antongiorgi said, and brings her more in
line with other county CFOs.
But a government watchdog group said it smacks of arrogance.
"It sends the message that taxpayers have to make sacrifices
and President Stroger's friends, family and supporters get
special treatment," said Jay Stewart, of the Better Government
Association. "It is a classic example of how Cook County
politicians look at the world -- one set of rules for the
outsiders and a different, more favorable set of rules for
the insiders."
Jarese Wilson, who took Dunnings' spot as budget director
last year, isn't getting a raise this year, but budget records
show some other county employees are in line for a hefty payday.
Stroger's purchasing agent, Carmen Triche-Colvin -- wife of
his best friend -- also is set for a double-digit raise, as
she now makes $116,000 and the 2008 budget shows she is to
be paid $133,079.
But she won't be taking that extra money, Antongiorgi said,
though Stroger is reserving the right to give her a raise
later.
Several top-paid county employees aren't going to take the
full amount the budget shows they are to be paid, either,
she said, adding that "the extra money is used for other
budgetary purposes."
Stroger's willingness to spend more and hire by the hundreds
flies in the face of recent comments by Mayor Daley, who said
his city government is tightening its belt and freezing hiring
because of poor economic conditions.
Just last year, county government laid off hundreds, and Antongiorgi
said county policy says those people are generally entitled
to fill new jobs before any outsiders -- something those laid
off say isn't happening yet.
Several of the new jobs, Antongiorgi said, are court-mandated,
while others were recommended to help county hospitals operate
better. But plenty of those jobs weren't required, including
new positions for the commissioners who passed Stroger's budget.
Antongiorgi defended the addition of jobs and spending, pointing
out the county has long held the line on property tax increases
-- though critics point to a long history of the county raising
other taxes instead, while Stroger's Forest Preserve District
annually increases property taxes.
