123 Joliet City Employees Topped $150,000 Last Year

Joliet IL

20 January, 2022

1:18 AM

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JOLIET, IL — After making $139,144 in 2020, Joliet police officer Tom Banas became the highest paid employee in the entire city of Joliet last year, making a grand total of $229,716, according to payroll records obtained by Patch. In 2021, Banas had a base salary as a patrol officer of $109,923. Among the notables that pushed his total pay to nearly $230,000: Banas made $69,547 in overtime pay, $14,221 in special assignment flat rate pay, plus another $13,639 in what the city listed as "premium special assignment pay." As part of his 2021 compensation, Banas got a pay increase of $3,182 retroactive for 2020 and a current year retroactive salary increase of $8,390, according to city payroll records. Banas received a longevity stipend of $1,751, a court stipend of $2,100, and $5,022 in holiday pay from the Joliet Police Department. The highest paid current member of the Joliet Fire Department for 2021 was Battalion Chief John Koch, who made more than the fire chief and the deputy chief. Koch's base salary was $142,099. In addition to that, Koch received a longevity stipend of $2,580, plus another $8,231 for his Joliet Fire Department holiday pay. Koch also made a significant amount of overtime pay: $47,021. Lastly, Koch was paid $3,756 as an education reimbursement, Joliet payroll records reflect. In an effort to foster greater local government transparency and to keep you informed on how your city of Joliet tax dollars are being spent, Joliet Patch has compiled its annual summary of the city of Joliet's top paid employees. The Joliet Police Department had 67 police officers making more than $150,000. The Joliet Fire Department had 47 firefighter paramedics. The other nine employees making at least $150,000 work in City Hall or in public works. The list of city employees includes anyone making about $150,000 or higher in gross wages in 2021. Patch obtained the data from a Freedom of Information Act request to City Hall. 1. Tom Banas, police operations, $229,716 2. Mark Vershay, fire captain, $204,402, retired Nov. 16, 2021; his retirement included a payout of $58,789 for his unused vacation and sick leave banks. 3. John Koch, fire battalion chief, $203,760 Image via city of Joliet 4. Fred Offermann, fire battalion chief, $195,498 5. Ken Simonich, police operations, $194,654, retired Sept. 17, 2021. Simonich's retirement included a city payout of $75,230 for his unused vacation, sick and comp time accruals. 6. Greg Blaskey, fire chief, $193,388 7. Michael Pauly, police operations, $192,562 8. Mike Batis, deputy police chief, $188,914, retired Sept. 9, 2021. Batis' retirement included a city payout of $56,934 for his sick bank and unused vacation accruals. 9. Pat Strocchia, fire captain, $187,571 Image via city of Joliet 10. Jim Capparelli, city manager, $185,716 11. Christopher D'Arcy, police operations, $182,164 12. Ronald Fox, fire battalion chief, $181,701 13. Raul Alvarez, police operations, $181,451 14. Jeremy Harrison, police operations, $181,197 15. Matt Baxter, fire captain, $181,156 16. Jim Torri, community development, $181,110 17. John Stachelski, fire battalion chief, $180,999 18. Arthur Arellano, police operations $179,141 19. Marcus Wietting, police operations, $178,703 After making $149,630 in city wages in 2020, Joliet patrol officer Marcus Wietting made $178,703 in 2021. Image via city of Joliet 20. Jose Tellez, police operations, $178,405 21. Jeff Carey, deputy fire chief, $177,278 22. Jamere Price, police operations, $176,585 23. Eric Mattson, fire operations, $175,157 24. John Merriman, fire captain, $174,199, retired Sept. 15, 2021. Merriman's compensation included $57,437 for his unused vacation and sick leave 25. Robert Mau, police operations, $173,326 26. Robert Brown, became interim police chief in October, $173,086 27. David Fox, police operations, $172,954 28. Andrew Jose, police operations, $172,808 29. Sherrie Blackburn, deputy police chief, $172,640 Sherrie Blackburn became one of Joliet's four deputy police chiefs in January 2021. Image via city of Joliet 30. Neal Kruchten, fire lieutenant/EMS coordinator, $172,548 31. Frank Wascher, police operations, $172,283 32. John Byrne, police operations, $172,145 33. Bryan Marconi, fire operations, $172,047 34. Jeff German, police detective, $171,976 35. Peter Van Gessel, police operations, $170,201 36. Kenneth Brown, police operations, $170,012 37. Moises Avila, police operations, $169,040 38. Dawn Malec, police chief until demotion in October, $168,590 39. Daniel Berta, fire operations, $168,077 40. Brent Fraser, community development, $167,870 41. Christopher Botzum, police operations, $166,907 42. James Lukancic, fire operations, $166,722 43. Carlos Matlock, deputy police chief, $166,590 44. Joe Egizio, police lieutenant, criminal investigations, $166,588 45. Terrence Juricic, public utilities, $166,312 46. Joe Rosado, demoted to police lieutenant, $166,117 47. Tizoc Landeros, police operations, $166,087 48. John Williams, police operations, $165,978 49. Patrick Cardwell, police sergeant, $165,149, president of Joliet police supervisors group. Back in 2020, Joliet Police Sgt. Pat Cardwell made $165,899. Image via city of Joliet 50. Aaron Kozlowski, fire battalion chief, $165,080 51. Brian Edman, fire operations, $164,772. 52. Matt Breen, police operations, $164,640 53. Bruce Trevillian, police operations, $164,527 54. Bob Rosado, fire captain, $163,762 55. Juan Acosta, police operations, $163,641 56. Doug Palmer, police operations, $163,544 57. Darren Prochaska, police operations, $163,338 58. James Robertson, police operations, $162,783 59. Bradley Dubs, police operations, $162,678 60. Shana Wendt, police operations, $162,605 61. Jim Blake, fire battalion chief, $162,407 62. Tim Powers, police operations, $162,232 63. Michael Fosen, police operations, $162,207, retired May 3, 2021. Fosen was one of two police to get a retirement payout topping six figures for 2021. The other was Police Chief Al Roechner, at $121,114. Fosen received about $104,695: $54,511 for his excess of vacation time, $29,664 for his comp time banks and $20,520 for his sick bank payout. Joliet Officer Mike Fosen, who retired May 3, received about $104,695 for his unused vacation, sick and comp time accruals. Image via city 64. David House, fire operations, $162,037 65. James Kilgore, police operations, $160,760 66. David Wall, police operations, $160,010 67. Richard Olson, police operations, $159,987 68. Craig Sayles, fire operations, $158,434 69. Wayne Lopez, public utilities, $157,973 70. Matt Thom, fire operations, $157,789 71. Kyle Bledsoe, police operations, $157,573 72. David Braner, information technology director, $157,473 73. Joe Alsbury, police operations, $157,518 74. Sean Miller, fire operations, $157,148 75. Ray Palacios, fire operations, $156,860 76. Melissa Andrzejewski, police operations, $156,775 77. James Rouse, police operations, $156,384 78. Matt Ehrsam, fire operations, $156,301 79. Jeremy Hoffman, fire operations, $156,199 80. James Ryan, fire operations, $155,830 81. Bob Desiderio, police operations, $155,770 82. Tim Chaplin, fire operations, $155,722 83. Brian Prochaska, police operations $155,412 84. Harold Pitsenberger, fire operations, $155,355 85. John Gallagher, fire operations, $155,152 86. John Ross, police operations, $155,138 87. Bob Casares, police operations, $154,961 88. Brian Montello, police operations, $154,944 89. James Boyd, fire operations, $154,940 90. Mark Boros, fire operations, $154,922 91. Daniel Traina, fire operations, $154,738, retired Sept. 7, 2021. Traina received a payout of $62,056 for his unused vacation and sick leave 92. Stephen Breen, police operations, $154,725 93. Mark Troha, fire operations, $154,324 94. James Ryan, fire operations, $154,394 95. Mike Adelmann, fire operations, $153,759 96. Brent Pocewicz, police operations, $153,679 97. Jim Ghedotte, finance director, $153,554 Joliet City Finance Director Jim Ghedotte. Image via city of Joliet 98. Brian Bornemann, fire operations, $153,340 99. Eric Johnson, fire captain, $153,139 100. Jerry Austin, police operations, $153,061 101. Jeff Chignoli, fire operations, $153,018 102. Mike Devito, police operations, $152,993, president of Joliet FOP Labor Council Mike Devito has been a member of Joliet's FOP Labor Council for approximately 26 years. Back in 2020, Devito made $125,030. Image via John Ferak/Patch 103. Tom Stein, police operations, $152,874 104. Paul Yanak, fire captain, $152,018 105. Dwayne English, police spokesman, $152,081 106. Lisa Nicodemus, police operations, $152,070 107. Richard Stygar, police operations, $151,894 108. Phil Emph, police operations, $151,558 109. Burke Schuster, fire operations, $151,520 110. Charles Jones, public utilities, $151,477 111. Peter Ranstead, police operations, $151,368 112. Matt Christensen, fire operations, $151,227 113. Julie Larson, police operations, $151,049 114. Noah Klima, fire operations, $150,921 115. Jerry Green, fire operations, $150,837 116. Jim Batusich, fire operations, $150,806 117. Patrick Kelly, police operations, $150,787 118. Jeff Haiduke, police operations, $150,658 119. Corrado Venzon, police operations, $150,642 120. Allison Swisher, public utilities' director, $150,577 121. Doug May, police operations, $150,395 122. Kevin O'Keefe, fire operations, $150,258 123. Mark Carbaugh, fire operations, $150,006 A total of 47 members of the Joliet Fire Department made more than $150,000 in pay during 2021. File/John Ferak/Joliet Patch