Joliet's Top 100 Paid Employees For 2017

JOLIET, IL - Here at Joliet Patch, we believe that local government works best when the electorate is fully informed.

Every year, under state law, the City of Joliet and other local municipalities across Illinois must publish their annual salary data of their public employees. This is done to shine a light on how your tax dollars are being spent. After all, between 75 percent and 80 percent of the city of Joliet's budget gets spent on employee costs whether that's salaries, overtime, medical, dental and pension costs.

By publishing the gross wages for Joliet's top 100 employees, we hope you have a better of understanding of how your tax dollars are being put to use.

But, first, a couple items to clarify:

In the case of a number of police officers, a large portion of their overtime expenses is often paid by an outside private vendor, according to the city. That's the case with officer Lionel Allen, who is often one of Joliet's top paid annual employees. As another example, the Chicagoland Speedway reimburses the city of Joliet for overtime costs related to having on-duty firefighters and police officers present for NASCAR weekend and other major racing events here in Joliet, according to city officials.

Also, in recent years, the city published the salary data listing the employee's regular salary and also listed separate categories for overtime pay or other compensation. This time, the city of Joliet just listed the employee by name and their total compensation.

Regarding the Top 100 for 2017, at least a few of city employees were set to receive huge payouts as part of their retirement severance. Some of these payments are partially reflected in their 2017 total compensation.

Take the case of Brian Dupuis. He retired as deputy police of technical services during January. In 2016, Dupuis made about $157,000, making him the city's 19th highest paid employee that year.

For 2017, Dupuis was the highest paid city employee in all of Joliet. However, Dupuis was expected to get more than $116,000 for cashing out his vacation, sick and compensatory time banks that he accumulated during his 27-year career at the Joliet Police Department.

1. $183,194 Brian Dupuis, deputy police chief, exempt. (Retired January 2018.)
2. $180,510 Michael Stromberg, battalion fire chief, local 2369
3. $179,470 Robert Dilorenzo, battalion fire chief, local 2369
4. $178,858 Carlos Matlock, police investigations, FOP
5. $178,405 Lionel Allen, police patrol, FOP
6. $177,125 James Blake, fire captain, Local 2369
7. $174,647 Ronald Fox, fire captain, Local 2369
8. $173,659 Ronald Schroeder, fire battalion chief, Local 2369
9. $172,484 Frederick Offermann, fire captain, Local 2369
10. $172,167 Pat Strocchia, fire captain, Local 2369
11. $171,761 Laroy Aldridge, fire battalion chief, Local 2369
12. $171,424 Richard Demick, police captain, FOP
13. $169,704 Matthew Baxter, fire captain, Local 2369
14. $169,345 Jim Eggen, director of utilities, exempt. (Retired April 2018)Eggen made more than $169,000 in 2017 after making made $144,000 in 2016. Last November, Patch reported Eggen would receive $96,629 for cashing out his unused sick days and his accrued vacation time between then and March 31, 2018 when he retired.
15. $167,752 Brian Benton, chief of police, exempt.
16. $167,555 Marc Reid, police lieutenant, internal affairs, FOP
17. $167,252 Marty Shanahan, corporation counsel, exempt. (Interim city manager in 2017.)
18. $165,671 Joe Formhals, fire chief, exempt
19. $164,150 David Mackley, inspections, building services director, exempt. (Retired April 2018.)Mackley made more than $164,000 in 2017 after making about $117,000 in 2016. Mackley was owed more than $105,000 for cashing out his unused sick and vacation time between last fall and March 31, 2018, his last day of employment with Joliet.
    

20. $163,483 James Ryan, fire suppression, Local 44

21. $161,160 John Stachelski, fire battalion chief, Local 2369
22. $160,494 Al Roechner, deputy chief of police, exempt
23. $159,681 Floyd Woods, fire suppression, Local 236
24. $159,357 Edgar Gregory, deputy chief of police, exempt.
25. $158,850 Terrence Juricic, water field crew, maintenance foreman, bargaining unit 440
26. $158,724 Jeffrey Carey, battalion fire chief, Local 2369
27. $158,381 Robert Rosado, fire suppression, Local 2369
28. $158,006 Tab Jensen, deputy police chief, exempt
29. $157,551 Greg Blaskey, promoted to deputy fire chief in March 2017, exempt
30. $157,346 Bruce Larson, police captain, FOP
31. $156,906 Mark Vershay, fire captain, Local 2369
32. $155,957 Jeffery Allbert, police captain, FOP
33. $155,785 Robert Brown, patrol lieutenant, FOP
34. $155,127 Rodney Leggero, fire captain, Local 2369
35. $154,759 John Perona, patrol sergeant, FOP
36. $154,520 Lindsey Heavener, police sergeant, evidence, FOP
37. $154,508 Terry Mangun, fire battalion chief, Local 2369
38. $154,220 Aaron Kozlowski, fire captain, Local 2369
39. $153,728 Eric Mattson,fire lieutenant, Local 2369
40. $153,669 Theodore Parks, fire captain, Local 2369
41. $152,896 David House, fire captain, Local 2369
42. $152,631 Timothy Kelly, sewer field crew, maintenance foreman, 440, retired September 2017. Patch reported Kelly would get $60,572 for accrued sick, compensatory time and unused vacation banks.
43. $152,407 Jeremy Harrison, patrol lieutenant, FOP
44. $152,275 Joseph Egizio, police lieutenant, FOP
45. $152,026 Stephen Breen, patrol lieutenant, FOP
46. $152,005 Michael Batis, police investigations lieutenant, FOP
47. $151,839 Leslie O'Connor, police captain, FOP
48. $150,800 John Miller, fire lieutenant, Local 2369
49. $150,375 Victor Stachelski, fire captain, Local 2369
50. $150,204 Patrick Cardwell, patrol sergeant, FOP
51. $150,115 Neal Kruchten, fire lieutenant, Local 2368
52. $150,090 Robert Mau, neighborhood police, FOP
53. $150,060 James Allison, police investigations, FOP (retired February 2018)
54. $150,026 Daniel Berta, fire lieutenant, Local 2369
55. $149,964 David Braner, IT director, exempt
56. $149,329 John Koch, battalion chief, Local 2369
57. $148,910 James Trizna, director of public works, exempt
58. $148,362 Timothy Chaplin, fire lieutenant, Local 2369
59. $148,307 Aaron Aguirre, fire suppression, Local 44
60. $147,678 Kenneth Mihelich, director of administrative services, exempt
61. $147,465 James Ghedotte, finance director, exempt
62. $147,355 Matthew Ehrsam, fire lieutenant, Local 2369
63. $147,190 Martin Blackburn, fire captain, Local 2369

64. $147,080 Steven Jones, deputy city manager/economic development, exempt
65. $147,012 Matthew Breen, patrol sergeant, FOP
66. $146,645 Dennis McWherter, patrol lieutenant, FOP
67. $146,107 Joseph Rosado, police lieutenant, FOP
68. $146,002 Douglas May, police sergeant, FOP
69. $145,992 Kenneth Brown, patrol sergeant, FOP
70. $145,830 Patrick Blatti, neighborhood police, FOP (retired February 2018)
71. $145,668 Bon Mui, utility administrator, exempt (retired October 20, 2017. Slated to get $50,218 for accrued sick and unused vacation banks. Made $116,000 in 2016.
72. $145,494 James Lukancic, fire lieutenant, Local 2369
73. $145,134 Raul Alvarez, patrol sergeant, FOP
74. $145,044 John Lukancic, fire captain, Local 2369
75. $144,256 Andrew Jose, neighborhood police sergeant, FOP
76. $144,103 Michael Pauly, patrol, FOP
77. $143,630 Daniel Koerner, fire lieutenant, Local 2369
78. $143,522 John Dillon, roadways, maintenance foreman, 440
79. $143,211 John Merriman, fire captain, Local 2369
80. $143,135 Jeffrey Fornoff, police evidence, FOP
81. $142,920 James Robertson, neighborhood police, FOP
82. $142,382 John Byrne, patrol, FOP
83. $142,265 Kendall Jackson, director of community and economic development, exempt
84. $142,250 Kevin Labolle, patrol lieutenant
85. $141,946 Paul Yanak, fire lieutenant, Local 2369
86. $141,531 Robert Wohlrab, fire captain, Local 2369
87. $141,468 Richard Olson, patrol, FOP
88. $141,169 Lawrence Collins, sergeant, neighborhood police, FOP
89. $140,882 Phillip Stice, traffic sergeant, FOP
90. $140,796 Darrell Gavin, police sergeant investigations, FOP
91. $140,762 Eric Johnson, fire captain, Local 2369
92. $140,752 Eric Kobe, fire lieutenant, Local 2369
93. $140,603 Dwayne Weis, police investigations, FOP
94. $140,354 Kenneth Simonich, police investigations, FOP
95. $140,328 Mark Paskvan, chief wastewater plant operator, 440
96. $140,233 Russell Lubash, traffic engineer, exempt
97. $140,194 Bruce Trevillian, patrol, FOP
98. $139,701 Brian Prochaska, assigned to FBI Task Force, FOP
99. $139,618 Paul Sturgill, patrol, FOP
100. $139,264 Marcus Wietting, patrol, FOP

Main image of David Mackley via city of Joliet website