Naperville is an affluent exurb. These are the things affluent exurbs pay for. Feel free to hop in the car and drive west or south for an hour and move to some one-horse town. ... Sounds like you'd like to cut all Parks & Rec so in 2-5 years you can sit around and complain how terrible Naperville is ...

Good Plan....

Sentinel,
We'll be continuing this series with another article looking at salary records for city employees, so keep an eye out for that in the near future.

Hi Dan, thanks for pointing that out, it's been corrected. We're only human, right?

Or HIRE an editor. ... News services are bare-bones across the board. Not enough staff. ... Dan, can we all show up to your job and sarcastically point out all of your mistakes?

Well their pensions are too high....

Ok Naperville, You have the problem solved. Send the bills for all their salaries to Vera...ooops, Pro Life Crusader. She'll be happy to pay them, including those for the golf pros. Thanks Vera, you saved us a bundle.

Sentinel I pay my taxes for the services offered to me and I don't have a problem paying for them! Let's get rid of the Police and Fire then as they have no legal obligation to protect us by law !

Vera, you're uttering nonsense, as usual. Police and Fire are necessary and benefit all of Naperville residents. Park District stuff like golf courses are NOT necessary and are NOT used by all Naperville residents. And as some here have said, the Park District seems to be top heavy and bloated. How many "directors" does a town our size NEED for a park districct. I pay MY taxes too and it's articles liek this that show us where our money is going...and this amount of money could be better spent elsewhere. I'm also not saying we need to close the golf courses or even sell them. But I bet they can be operated at much less expense than they are now.

Sentinel I was making a point and a comparison , because people do complain from time to time that Police and Fire are over payed and get pensions that others don't get.

Vera, if you were "making a point", sorry but you were wide of the mark. If you are going to make a point, it's always smart to make it with facts that make sense. And for the most part, people in Naperville don't complain very much about police and fire pensions and pay...unless they are way out of whack.
Be that as it may, people here have said the park workers on the list are "professionals" meaning they have either worked their way up the ladder, learning as they go, OR have gone to school and got a degree in, say, land management. But I bet if you went into the backgrounds and schooling of many on the list, you'll find most aren't "professionals" but merely landed in the job. I still think a park district, no matter where it's located, often winds up to be bloated and top heavy and can be trimmed.

Sentinel facts? Do you live in Naperville? If so , people have complained about salaries and pensions of Police and Fire! Do you recall when Naperville had to lay off several Police Officers because of no money in the budget and people said money can be saved by cutting the Police high salaries! Luckily those Officers were hired back! Did you go to the Council metting when they did the lay off's? I did! Also Police and Fire are extreme professionals in their field of work, just like any other profession .

Southeast, we ARE talking about Naperville, not Springfield.

I don’t think anyone is complaining that these people’s skillset aren’t worth their salary, but more about why we even need the position(s). It’s not a reflection of the individual earning the salary, but the person who increases the budget each year to hire more bodies that force us to pay the salaries.

I agree with Mayday Mayday. I think our priorities are mixed up if we pay so much for recreation and then the police department is understaffed.

$169,457.46 is an insane amount of money to be paying for an executive director. His latest salary increase represents a 20% increase ( $28,159.00) in one year. It is time to revisit the number of employees in the park district and to downsize salaries and expenses. In these tough economic times it is not reasonable or prudent to be giving these outrageous salary increases. Wake up Naperville.

JP4, Bloat is the right word. There are a lot of layers that probably could be reduced. How many Directors does Naperville need just for its parks?

Why do we own golf courses? BECAUS WE CAN!
If there was ever a binding referendum to sell the golf courses Naperville owns, you bet they'd be for sale! Considering the small population of Naperville residents who golf and the number of golfers who wouldn't turn out to vote, it's all but a sure thing.

Gerald... be careful about what you suggest. Lisle Park District owns a restaurant and it's on their golf course.

Your right there are only two. Why do we have 3 pros? In any case it is not the responsibility of government to provide for your or anyone else’s golf outings. This is why we are going bankrupt because of these cradle to grave all-encompassing nanny state projects.

Nothing government does when it comes to running businesses is efficient or effective and they/we never learn. Free market capitalism is the only proven way to run businesses. Sell the courses and if possible the beach too.

Give me an inflated budget and I’m sure I could go to Gary, IN and win a reward

Running for it? Hack I subscribe to eliminating it as it is just one more taxing authority which is and has been out of control for years. No control, no oversight and no justification for their existence.

All their functions could easily be absorbed by current city employees and their expenditures approved by city council. Lets get rid of them too.

Gerald where or what will the children do if the parks and all the Park dist properties closed? Where will they play, have fun and do with their time! When I drive throughout Naperville the parks and recreation areas are buzzing with activity and people and children having fun. Not in a life time will you ever see any Park dist. close down, most of all the Naperville Park dist. They are here too stay.

Because it can!

High taxes caused by these boondoggles do the exact opposite!

When you take into consideration all taxing authorities such as the city, utilities, park district, schools, and special taxes like SECA and permits, gas tax and other nuisance taxes like red light cameras we win (Naperville) hands down against the ones you listed.

You should do so well as to emulate not only the morality and integrity of these great men but in many cases their intelligence, knowledge, patriotism and understanding of service to their country and communities without pay since they saw it as a duty.

They knew what would happen when corrupt politicians steal (unnecessary taxes) from the citizens to reward cronies and political hacks and wrote into OUR CONSTITUTION preventative measures like the Bill of Rights.

Since its’ inception the crooks, liars, cheats and bums have been trying to eliminate it and in the process are destroying this country. Freedom is lost one step at a time and there is precious little left.