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Editorials
The coroner's audacious request : Editorials : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisThe coroner's audacious request
| 5/3/2012
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Kendall County Coroner Ken Toftoy wants a raise. We don't think he has earned or deserves more pay.
The County Board is currently reviewing the salary for the coroner and the county's other constitutional officers. Under state law, the board must set the salaries for the positions for the next four years prior to the November general election.
Toftoy currently makes an annual salary of $56,244, $15,265 or 37 percent more than he earned while working in the position in 2008.
In making his case for still more money at a recent County Board meeting, Toftoy noted his current salary is far below that of the county's elected treasurer, circuit clerk and county clerk and recorder. Those officials all earn salaries of $87,454 annually.
There is an important distinction between the county coroner's position and the county's other elected positions. The treasurer, circuit clerk and county clerk are all expected to work full-time hours, Mondays through Fridays. Toftoy or one of his five deputies must be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but are not expected to work 40 hours each week.
Toftoy's deputies are also handling the vast majority of death calls received by his office. For example, Toftoy told us he went on just three of an estimated 30 calls received by his office in March. His deputies- who work rotating shifts- handled all of the other calls. Where was Toftoy for those 27 other calls? We don't know, but he admits he did not handle them.
Taxpayers should also be extremely concerned about how Toftoy spends their money at training conferences. Toftoy said the county has budgeted $8,000 for the current fiscal year for him and his deputies to attend conferences. He also admits to using some of that money to buy high-priced meals for himself, including filet mignon, while at those conferences.
When asked by our reporter, Matt Schury, why he needed to purchase expensive filets instead of cheaper menu items while dining on the taxpayers' dime, Toftoy said, "Well, I have a filet mignon almost every Friday or Saturday night at Lakeview (restaurant in Yorkville) or Ralph's Place (in Bristol). Why should I change my eating habits?"
Toftoy also admits to drinking alcoholic beverages at conference meals, but says he is always careful to deduct his drink expenses from the rest of his meal tab.
Based on the low number of death calls he personally responds to and his free-spending ways with his office's conference budget, we can't believe Toftoy has the audacity to be asking the county board for more money.
What makes Toftoy's wage hike request even more brazen is the fact that just three weeks ago he was re-elected as chairman of the Kendall County Republican Party. That's the same Republican Party that regularly advocates for less taxes, reduced government spending, smaller government and greater government transparency. Spending tax dollars on filet mignon at conferences is not something we would think that most county Republicans would support.
The Republican-controlled County Board can save taxpayers some money by rejecting Toftoy's request for another raise and starting to more closely scrutinize his office's spending practices. We would also suggest they eliminate or at least cut in half the amount they allocate for Toftoy and his deputies to attend conferences. That way Toftoy might have to dine on still filling yet less expensive menu items like cheeseburgers while attending the next conference.
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