Why did the mayor of Lynwood, Illinois take home triple the pay budgeted for her office?
A mayor of one of Chicago's southern suburbs is up for reelection next week, and is feeling the heat from her residents — as well as questions from CBS News Chicago.
CBS News Chicago spent months trying to get a simple answer from Lynwood Mayor Jada Curry about her salary, after hearing from residents that Curry was taking home nearly triple the amount in the budget for her position.
In 2021, then-Village Trustee Curry ran for village president, or mayor. Well before the election, an ordinance drastically reduced the salary of the next, and then-to-be-determined, mayor of Lynwood.
A salary of $85,000 a year dropped to one of $20,000.
It is known that Curry knew about the pay cut, because her vote as a trustee on the matter is recorded. She opposed the reduction of the salary to $20,000, but the measure passed — and then took effect the year Curry became mayor.
Four years later, Curry is running for a second term as mayor. Her first mayoral campaign was on a platform of transparency.
Yet Curry's office ignored public records requests, and CBS News Chicago had to get the Illinois Attorney General involved to compel the Village of Lynwood to comply with the law.
It took the village nearly two months to hand over Mayor Curry's payroll records. When the village finally did so, the records showed Curry brought home $98,333.42 in 2024.
She is currently paid for three different positions — village president at $20,000, cannabis commissioner at $5,000, liquor commissioner at $10,000. That amounts to a grand total of $35,000 in the village budget.
So where did that extra cash of more than $60,000 come from to get Curry's salary up to $98,333.42?
Calls and emails asking for an explanation for all this went nowhere. So CBS News Chicago took a trip down to Lynwood, and asked Curry directly if she would talk about some questions circulating about her salary.
Curry's response was, "We sent over a statement to you all."
The statement, sent to CBS News Chicago less than 30 minutes before our in-person interaction, led to even more questions about how taxpayer money is being used. It does account for the additional money, saying Curry was paid for meetings.
The payouts for meetings are right there on Curry's paystub — $2,500 every two weeks.
But why is a mayor being paid to attend meetings?
"Who's making the decision about these kind of perks of the office, that you get paid for extra work that is, in fact, part of the job description?" said David Greising, chief executive officer of the watchdog group the Better Government Association.
Greising spoke to CBS News Chicago in general about public official salaries.
"Typically, the mayor doesn't have the right to raise their own salary," he said.
When Curry was asked what she would say to Lynwood residents who are confused about what she is being paid, Curry referenced the written response again. When asked if she would like to sit down for a formal interview, Curry entered her office, and the door closed behind her.
She also closed the door on the opportunity to explain where in the Lynwood village budget it specifically states she is supposed to be paid $65,000 to go to meetings.
Her representative later sent CBS News Chicago paystub for previous Lynwood Mayor Eugene Williams, to show he was compensated for meetings too.
But the previous mayor was paid $900 in total for attending meetings, not $65,000.
Curry's representative said the mayor's meeting pay is part of a $372,000 allocation labeled "administrative salaries."
At least one trustee who voted on that same budget said she has never heard of meeting pay.
