Two aldermen game the system to lavish taxpayer-funded bonuses upon staff
City records show Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th ward) and Ald. Sophia King (4th ward) used temporary salary increases to game the system to grant large bonuses to members of their staff, at taxpayer expense.
As previously reported Gardiner used this scheme to temporarily change one staffer’s annual salary from $40,000 to an incredible $216,000 for the month of December, then returned her salary to its normal level in January. This had the effect of granting a mammoth $15,000 bonus to a single staffer. But this raised the question: is this a common practice among aldermen?
To answer that question, we analyzed salary data obtained from the City’s Department of Human Resources for every one of the 377 individuals designated as employees of the City Council. We looked at pay in November and December 2020, along with January 2021 to determine which pay adjustments were normal and permanent annual increases versus those which were a part of this “December spike” scheme.
What we found is that this practice is rare, with only two of the City Council’s fifty aldermen using this maneuver last year. In addition to the previously identified bonuses from Gardiner, King gave taxpayer-funded bonuses of nearly $8,000 and $5,000 to two staffers, equivalent to an approximate 10% bonus on their salaries. This manipulation of the system came during record levels of unemployment as the City faces a massive budget crisis and less than six months after King was named Chair of the Chicago Progressive Reform Caucus.
While an unusual and questionable use of taxpayer funds, the combined bonus to King’s two staffers pales in comparison to the magnitude of Gardiner’s bonus payouts, particularly when duration of employment is considered. The two Gardiner staffers who received the largest bonuses, Joyce Schraeder and Maree Joyce, had worked for the City for less than six months when Gardiner spiked their December pay. Schraeder started last year as a part-time aide on June 16. She moved to a full-time salaried position in August, then received a December pay increase of 440% resulting in a bonus of $14,666 after less than six months’ work. Joyce started part-time on September 16, only moving to full time in December when she received a pay increase of 182% resulting in a bonus of over $5,000 after less than three months’ work.
We estimated Schraeder and Joyce’s gross pay based on the above records, other records that showed both were budgeted to work twenty hours per week, a sampling of timesheets obtained from the City Clerk which supported that assumption, and a conservative assumption of no days off other than official holidays and weekends. Our analysis shows both staffers almost certainly took home more in city pay in the month of December than they had the rest of their 2020 employment with the alderman.
Taking into account both staffers would have received their normal December pay regardless of this salary increase, this translates to an approximate 72% bonus for Schraeder in her six month tenure and an approximate 55% bonus for Joyce in her three months of employment.
In late 2019, Mayor Lightfoot increased each alderman’s expense budget by $25,000, from $97,000 to $122,000. At the time, some aldermen said additional funds would allow them to add staff to deliver more services to constituents.
Instead of increased constituent services, King opted to use 52% of the additional $25,000 to pay bonuses, while Gardiner used almost 90% of his additional budget on bonuses — 59% of it going to a single staffer.
Citing the City’s continued budget crisis and the need for shared sacrifice, Lightfoot’s 2021 budget reduces aldermen’s expense allowance back to a budget of $97,000.
This unorthodox practice raises additional ethical questions around the motives behind Schraeder’s unusually large bonus. Since Gardiner took office, Schraeder’s husband, Tom Schraeder, has been a volunteer for the alderman as well as a frequent commenter on Gardiner’s Facebook page and various Facebook groups, lavishing the alderman with effusive praise while also doxxing, threatening, and attacking Gardiner’s critics. Just three days after Schraeder’s December pay increase went into effect, her husband was captured on Ring doorbell footage knocking on doors in the 45th Ward, representing himself as “with the Alderman’s office” while asking to talk to constituents about nearby development projects. The Schraeder’s are not 45th Ward residents. It’s unclear if this pay increase in some way connected to Schraeder’s husband’s unofficial work for Gardiner. Neither Gardiner nor Schraeder replied to our request for comment.
While taxpayer-funded bonuses for aldermanic staff are highly unusual, it is somewhat more common for staff to receive bonuses paid out of officials’ campaign accounts — although typically in much smaller amounts. Campaign accounts are funded by political donations, not taxpayer funds. For example, a review of former Alderman John Arena’s campaign account shows that he paid small holiday bonuses for his staff out of campaign funds.
We contacted the Chicago Board of Ethics to inquire whether this was allowed. They responded that it was unclear and beyond their purview, deferring to Finance and Law to determine if this is an authorized use of city funds by the aldermen. Whether technically allowed, it’s clearly an unusual use of taxpayer funds and the scale of some of these bonuses for new employees raises additional questions.
We reached out to Aldermen King and Gardiner as well as Gardiner’s staff for comment. Gardiner’s assistant Rita Howard was the only one to respond to us, writing, “I haven’t heard anything about that but would love to know more. Can you provide me with the details?” We provided details, however she did not answer our questions. Howard did not receive a bonus in 2020, however records show she received a $2,500 bonus from Gardiner using the same scheme in 2019. It’s unclear why she did not receive a bonus in 2020.
