Lincolnwood Mayor Blocks Wage Hike, Board Adopts Sick Time Rules

LINCOLNWOOD, IL — Trustees voted Thursday to adopt Cook County sick leave requirements, reversing a decision from two and a half years ago. But the Lincolnwood Village Board's decision to opt out of the county's minimum wage requirement will remain in place, after Mayor Barry Bass cast the deciding vote to keep the village's wage floor in line with the state minimum.

Trustees Georjean Hlepas Nickell, Jean Ikezoe-Halevi, Atour Sargon and Jesal B. Patel voted in favor of adopting the county's earned sick leave requirement. Trustee Ronald Cope voted against, and the ordinance repealing the village's June 2017 vote to opt-out of the county mandate was repealed by a 4-1 vote at board's the Jan. 7 meeting.

Cope also voted against opting in to the county's higher minimum wage requirement. He was joined by Nickell. The rest of the supporters of adopting the sick leave voted for the higher minimum wage, leaving the vote at 3-2. Four votes are required to pass such an ordinance, and the mayor is required to vote, Village Attorney Steve Elrod said.

Bass said the village is running an approximately $800,000 deficit, expressing a concern that a loss of business would increase the property tax burden on senior citizens and middle class homeowners.

"It's incumbent on a guy like myself to bring business into the community and the fact of the matter is, you know, if the village goes more into debt who's going to pay for it? If we lose one or two good tax revenue generators, it goes on the homeowner," Bass said. "These are concerns that all have to be considered."

With Bass's vote against the ordinance that would have opted in to the wage rules, it failed with a vote of 3-3.

Trustee Craig Klatzco had recused himself from consideration of the matter, citing his role as an employer of numerous minimum wage employees as the owner of a local amusement venue and restaurant. He left the room ahead of the discussion and vote.

There are 2,048 minimum wage employees working at Lincolnwood businesses, comprising 20 percent of all workers in the village, according to the advocacy group Arise Chicago. It said workers making minimum wage in the village have been paid $13,260 less than minimum wage workers in suburban towns that are following the higher wage. The group said there are also 1,764 workers in Lincolnwood who will have access to paid sick days for the first time.

Cook County's minimum wage and sick leave ordinances took effect in July 2017, but many home rule municipalities elected to opt-out. Businesses in nearby Evanston, Skokie and Winnetka pay the higher county-mandated wage, while Morton Grove and Niles opted out. Some towns, including Wilmette, Glenview and Northbrook, have subsequently reversed course.

In a 2018 ballot referendum asking voters if they wanted their municipalities to opt in to Cook County's minimum wage and sick leave ordinances, 84 percent of voters in the village supported the sick leave plan, and 79 percent of Lincolnwood voters favored the county minimum wage.

Following that election, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a statewide minimum wage increase into law in February 2019. As a result, the state minimum hourly wage increased to $9.25 on Jan. 1, 2020, for most workers and $5.50 for tipped employees. It is on track to increase up to $15 per hour in 2025.

Watch: Full discussion from the Jan. 7 meeting of the Lincolnwood Village Board