* Some legislators won’t be happy about voting to cut their own income today, but furlough days were approved the last two years, and the tradition of 12 days with no pay may be around for awhile…

The furloughs would cost each lawmaker more than $3,000. Legislative aides say the total savings is about $564,000.

The cuts reach $1.2 million when furloughs for other state officials are included.

This would be the third straight year lawmakers have cut their pay.

* More info…

Senate Bill 266 requires lawmakers to forfeit a day of pay each month, and it blocks their annual cost-of-living allowances, which would have been 1.1 percent in the fiscal year that starts July 1, according to a spokesman for Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago.

The bill also blocks COLAs for the governor and the other statewide elected constitutional officers and others whose pay is recommended by the Compensation Review Board, and it freezes lawmakers’ per diems at $111, the same as this year but below the $140 they got two years ago. […]

But Sen. Sam McCann, R-Carlinville, believes more can be done. McCann supports taking furlough days but would also like to see a bill passed that would cut legislative pay by at least 10 percent.

“I would even entertain a 25 percent pay cut,” he said.

There’s always at least one in the bunch.

* Speaking of pay, this seems a bit much…

Former Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis walked out with a $76,308 check for accrued vacation days when he resigned his $310,000-a-year job on March 1 — a lump-sum payment for 64 unused days that’s raising eyebrows at City Hall.

His former $168,438-a-year chief-of-staff Mike Masters left police headquarters with a check for $30,448. That’s the equivalent of 54 unused vacation days

Weis and Masters are among 1,026 city employees paid $7.4 million for their unused vacation days since September, 2010, in the transition from former Mayor Richard M. Daley to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, according to information released to the Chicago Sun-Times in response to a Freedom of Information request.

* And it’s easy to understand how this can be viewed as unfair…

Newly installed Chicago School Board members Wednesday will be asked to approve six-figure salaries for new Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and four other new top executives that represent raises over what their predecessors were paid.

The vote on whether to boost executive Chicago Public School salaries comes only a week after the same board members, in their first official action, found the deficit-ridden system did not have enough money to pay for 4 percent raises to teachers and other unionized school workers worth $100 million. […]

“It’s not a good way to start a new administration when you elevate the salary level of a lot of administrators and tell the teachers they cannot get raises without putting a plan on the table for higher performance,’’ said Andy Shaw, president of the Better Government Association.

“People who take over a struggling school system ought to implement some positive changes before they are paid higher salaries [than their predecessors]. You could argue previous salaries were too high because the performance level of the schools was dismal,’’ Shaw said.

“This will only further incense teachers.’’

* But should labor leaders’ salaries be public? I dunno…

Is this a case of good for the goose, but not for the gander?

◆ Translation: Last month, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis called for “transparency” about Chicago Schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard’s salary and threatened to file a Freedom of Information request to get it.

◆ The turn of the screw: So how come Lewis’ salary is so secret?

◆ Explanation: Sneed inquired last week about her salary and was told “I don’t know,” by top Lewis spokeswoman Liz Brown. Her salary is not publicly listed, and Sneed was told: “She doesn’t have to do so.”

* Unfunded pension liabilities are only a fraction of this debt, but you better believe that’s what will be the media’s focus…

The average Chicago household now owes a staggering $63,525 to cover local government debt, according to Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas.

Suburbanites are deeply in the red, too, with the average household owing $32,901, according to the treasurer.

Among the biggest reasons: $25 billion in unfunded pension liability.

In comments after an appearance Tuesday before the Civic Federation, a watchdog group that has released somewhat similar numbers in recent years, Ms. Pappas said she was “stunned” to learn that county taxpayers on the whole owe more than $108 billion toward local debt.

* Related…

* Civic Federation: City should modernize vacation pay-out policy

* Teachers to picket meeting over denial of raises

* Report: City workers required to give cars back

* Police chief: I can’t pull Ald. Ed Burke’s security detail: In the past, Burke has cited Circuit Court Judge Joseph Wosik’s 1986 decision to block the city’s attempt to cut his bodyguard detail at the time from four officers to two. Wosik upheld Burke’s argument that he was a high-profile official subject to periodic threats and that a reduction in the number of bodyguards would have stifled his opposition to Washington.

* CPS may grant residency waiver for high-ranking official

* Officials play musical chairs with city jobs

* Editorial: Cook taxpayers are on the hook for $108 billion

* Elmwood Park Leaders Get Home Improvements on Village’s Time: Silvestri admits the work on his house was completed on village time, but said he told Martorana to do the work on his own time. Once the problem was discovered, Silvestri said, the village disciplined Martorana by dipping into his following year’s vacation to pay back the time. He said he also wrote two personal checks to Martorana for the work and materials used.

* Personal financial woes on file for Cook County recorder - Moore faces foreclosure, tax liens, diminished clout

* Reciprocal Act sweetens pension pot for former state legislators