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1975 SALARY SURVEY For Fulltime Park, Recreation, and Forest Preserve Personnel in Illinois by Dr. William E. O'Brien, Chairman Recreation Department Southern Illinois University (Editors note: The Boards of the Illinois Park and Recreation Society and the Illinois Association of Park Districts express their sincere appreciation to Dr. Bill O'Brien for his work in compiling the 1975 Salary Study.) Illinois Park and Recreation Society President Richard Johns asked this investigator to conduct a salary and fringe benefit study of Park and Recreation personnel in Illinois. Since similar studies had been conducted in previous years, it was decided to make a comparative study of the 1975 data with those of 1973; hopefully, studies will be undertaken every two years so that trends may be noted. The purpose was to gather and analyze data relative to salary and selected fringe benefits deemed important by full-time Park and Recreation personnel in Illinois park districts. The personnel in Forest Preserves were also invited to take part. The findings in the study would provide the basis for conclusions in matters important enough to members of the Illinois Park and Recreation Society and Illinois Park District Association professionals so that they could:
1. Be current as to the present status of salaries and selected fringe benefits.
POPULATION INCLUDED IN THE STUDY There were 248 Park and Recreation departments invited (including Forest and Conservation districts) to participate. The main criterion for inclusion was to have at least one full-time person in one of the established personnel categories as listed in the questionnaire. There were 143 questionnaires returned (58%). There were 17 respondents who did not qualify. The following qualified and were included:
PERSONNEL STUDIES Since the Park and Recreation field has many titles for the various positions, the researcher, with assistance from President Johns and Executive Secretary Kay Kastel Forest, described the different positions in the questionnaire and asked the respondent to place his staff members in the most suitable position. These staff descriptions included:
1. Chief Executive of the Department
The two new categories included in 1975, were Supervisor/Foreman of Park Maintenance and Facility Managers. The respondents appeared to cooperate very well in placing their personnel in these categories. It must be remembered that the respondents in this study are not identical to those of 1973. Some of the 1973 respondents did not take part in 1975, and some of the 1975 respondents were not in the 1973 study. This, of course, could (and probably did) affect the findings. The data analysis is in two parts: Part One— Salary; Part Two—Fringe Benefits, which will appear in the next issue (January/February). In the tables presenting the salary data, both the 1973 and 1975 totals are presented for the reader's pleasure. Comparisons can be made between the two studies. Salaries are presented in terms of annual salary. COMPOSITE SALARIES The status of composite salaries of all personnel included in the study is presented in Table I. There were 607 positions reported in 1975. There were 254 positions reported in 1973; a difference of 353. Analysis of Table 1 reveals that gains in dollar amounts were made in 14 of the personnel salary categories; 4 reflected losses and 6 could not be compared with 1973 since these are new categories. The greatest gain was in the 'highest salary' for the Chief Executive; this gain was $7,550 and did not include the park district serving over 500,000 people. This finding is consistent with 1973 findings. Other significant gains were in the personnel categories of Administrator of Recreation and Administrator of Park Operation. In terms of 'lowest Salaries,' the gains of $2,600 for Assistant to Chief Executive, $2,186 for Specialists, and $1,800 for Administrator of Park Operation were found. In the 'mean salary' description there were gains ranging from $2,165 for the Chief Executive to $463 for the Assistant to the Chief Executive in all categories except Supervisor of Recreation, where a loss of $286 was reported. For the reader's convenience, the gain or loss in comparing 1973-1975 salaries are presented in each personnel category in the salary descriptions for highest, lowest, and mean. Illinois Parks and Recreation 16 November/December, 1975
VALUATION OF UNDER $50,000,000 In Table 2 are presented data reported by departments having assessed valuation of under $50,000,000. In 1975 there were 54 personnel positions reported. In the 1973 study there were 7 personnel positions reported. An analysis of Table 2 reveals that for the Chief Executive there was a gain of $3,500 in 1975 in terms of the 'highest' salary reported. There was a gain of $500 in the 'lowest' salary reported, and a 'mean' gain of $1,075 in 1975. The next highest salary paid to the Chief Executive was paid to the Administrator of Recreation. There are very few data upon which to base a comparison between 1973 and 1975 because of the few respondents in 1973. It might be pointed out that in 1975 there were 2 Facility Management personnel reported with a range of $15,000 for the 'high' and $5,250 for the 'low.' The positions reported for Facility Managers were Golf Course Managers. VALUATION OF $50—100,000,000 In Table 3 are presented data reported by respondents for departments having an assessed value of $50-100,000,000. There were 120 personnel positions reported in 1975 as compared with 56 positions reported in 1973. An analysis of Table 3 reveals that for the personnel position known as Supervisor of Recreation/Community Centers, etc. the 'highest' gain was reported and that salary gain was $4,120. The Chief Executive also enjoyed a gain of $3,500. Salary gains were reflected in 13 of the personnel categories, and salary losses were reported in 4 of the personnel categories. One can quickly note that a loss appeared in the 'highest' salary category in terms of gain for the Assistant to the Executive, and two losses were reported for the salary categories of Supervisor of Recreation and Specialists, with both of these losses being in the 'lowest' salary paid. The 'mean' salary reflected a gain in all personnel categories except that of the Specialist. It is apparent from the data in Table 3 that the Supervisor/Foreman of Park Maintenance and Supervisor of Recreation/ Community Centers, etc. have a great number more personnel in the $50-100,000,000 category as compared with the under $50,000,000 assessed valuation. It might be pointed out that some of the titles of supervisors were Community Centers, Recreation, Athletics, Park Maintenance Foreman, Leisure Activities, Aquatics, Supervisor of Buildings and grounds, and others. VALUATION OF $100—200,000,000 Table 4 contains data by respondents for departments having an assessed value of $100-200,000,000. There were 168 personnel positions reported in 1975 as compared with 104 positions reported in 1973. Table 4 reveals that the Chief Executive and the Administrator of Recreation enjoyed the greatest salary gain between 1973 and 1975. The Administrator of Park Operations was a close second with a gain of $6,925. There were gains reported in 13 of the salary descriptions and losses were reported in 3. The highest 'mean' gains were found to be in the categories of Chief Executive, Administrator of Park Operations, and Administrator of Recreation. The highest gain in this area was $3,895 for the Chief Executive closely followed by $3,784 for the Administrator of Park Operations. When considering the loss or gain, it was found that the greatest gain was in the personnel category of Assistant to the Executive; this was $2,420. The categories of Chief Executive, Administrator of Recreation, and Administrator of Park Operations all enjoyed a $2,000 plus gain when 'lowest' salaries are considered. The greatest loss in this particular area was $4,975 in the category of Supervisor of Recreation.
Illinois Parks and Recreation 17 November/December, 1975
The titles for some of the supervisors were about the same as those reported in Table 3, i.e., Community Centers, Recreation, Athletics, etc. Data in Table 4 revealed that 27 Facility Managers were reported with a range in salary of from $8,500 to $24,000. Titles of facility managers were among the following: Golf Courses, Ice Rinks, Tennis Clubs, Recreation Facilities, Golf and Tennis combined. Aquatics Centers, Farm Facilities, and other kinds of complexes. VALUATION OVER $200,000,000 In Table 5 are presented data reported by respondents for departments having an assessed value of over $200,000,000. 265 personnel reported in 1975 as compared with 87 personnel positions reported in 1973. It can be quickly noted that a gain was found in the categories of Chief Executive, Assistant to Chief Executive, Administrator of Recreation and Administrator of Park Operations. The gain reported in terms of the 'highest' was for the Chief Executive; that gain was $7,600. The gain in salary for the Assistant to the Chief Executive was $6,500. There were gains in 13 of the salary descriptions for the various personnel positions; there were 6 losses reported in these descriptions. It should be reported that in terms of loss or gain for the 'mean' when the 1973 and 1975 data were compared, in nearly all categories there was a gain; the gain ranged from $3,115 to $649. As far as the lowest salary was concerned, there were 3 gains and 3 losses among the various salary descriptions for the personnel categories. In Table 5 it is revealed that a substantial and continuing increase in numbers of personnel were found in the categories of Supervisor of Recreation, Specialist, and Facility Managers. The titles of the supervisors were about the same as previously reported. The titles for the Facility Managers were about the same, except that Zoos, Farms, Gardens, and similar complexes were reported. Landscapers, senior citizens, conservatory, police and park, arts and crafts, naturalists, conservation, community relations, horticulturists, dramatics, and music were reported for the Specialist category.
Illinois Parks and Recreation 18 November/December, 1975 |
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