Thornton Township Compensation –

South Holland, Ill. (ECWd) –

There have been many conversations and publications lately concerning compensation being paid to current Thornton Township elected officials. Here is our opinion on this subject, which is focused solely on how it got to this point, not on the dollar amounts of their compensation.

On May 24, 2022, we published an article explaining how wrong the 2020 compensation ordinance was (read the article here). Compensation is set for the position, not for how long an elected official has held the position. We also talked about the per diem rates paid, which likely violates the current Local Government Travel Expense Control Act.

On September 27, 2022, we attended our first Thornton Township meeting where my public comment was focused in part on the unlawful compensation ordinance passed by the previous board of trustees, and how any compensation ordinance should set the compensation for the position, not by how many years a person was in that position.

On December 19, 2023, we wrote about the new unlawful compensation ordinance, which was later revoked by a vote of the township board.

On July 1, 2024, the governor signed Public Act 103-0600 which prohibits the type of compensation provided for in some Cook County Township Compensation Ordinances (see pages 90 and 91), and more specifically, declares previous ordinances null and void (the entire ordinance, not simply one provision of it) if it contains provisions of lesser pay for newly elected supervisors and the same or increased pay for a reelected supervisor.

“A township is prohibited from decreasing the salary for a person elected as supervisor of a township while maintaining the salary of an incumbent. An ordinance that violates this paragraph is null and void.”

With the passage of PA 103-0600. it appears both the 2020 and 2023 compensation ordinances are now null and void according to law.

On April 6, 2025, we wrote about the newly elected township officials and urged them to consider obtaining a court’s decision on the validity of the elected official compensation ordinance currently in effect, and by extension, declaring what the compensation should be, considering PA 103-0060 and the now-void previous ordinances. This would remove all doubt as to the legality of how much compensation these elected officials are receiving.

In the absence of a court order, it should be reasonable to set their compensation based on what the previous elected officials were being paid, while also ensuring that all township trustees are paid the same regardless of how long they have been in office.

Keep in mind, these current elected officials are bound by the compensation ordinances set by previous boards. The question here is which ordinance or parts of an ordinance are still valid, considering the passage of PA 103-0600.

If residents believe the current compensation is not valid, they can seek relief in circuit court, which is why the township board should seek a declaratory judgment on this issue to end all doubt of the validity of their compensation.