Following an executive session lasting approximately 45 minutes Monday evening, the Mt. Carmel City Council approved a new three-year contract with the Fraternal Order of Police, along with changes to compensation for future city elected officials.
Under the new police contract, Mt. Carmel police officers will receive a two-dollar-per-hour raise each year for the next three years.
The Council also approved a new compensation structure for the mayor and city commissioners that will take effect in May of 2027 and remain in place for the following four years.
Under the new arrangement, the mayor's base salary will remain at one thousand dollars per month, with an additional three-hundred-dollar stipend for each City Council or committee meeting attended.
City commissioners will continue receiving their current base salary of eight hundred dollars per month, along with a two-hundred-dollar stipend for each Council or committee meeting attended.
Mayor Joe Judge says the changes come after more than two decades without an increase in City Council compensation. According to Judge, compensation for Mt. Carmel's elected officials has remained unchanged since 2003.
The mayor says the Council reviewed an Illinois Municipal League compensation study involving communities similar in population to Mt. Carmel, along with salaries and benefits provided to elected officials in surrounding communities.
The comparison included cities such as Robinson, which provides its mayor with a base salary of twenty-six thousand dollars annually, along with retirement and health insurance benefits. Other communities reviewed included Murphysboro, Rockton, Carterville, and West Frankfort.
Judge says the goal was to establish a compensation structure that better reflects the responsibilities of serving in city government while keeping Mt. Carmel competitive with comparable communities.
The changes will not take effect during the current Council's term, but instead will apply to the mayor and commissioners taking office in May of 2027.