Toll collector earns $3500/month!

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
March 2, 2012

Have you been reading Cal Skinner's series about State of Illinois payroll in McHenry County?

If you haven't had heartburn or ulcers lately, you might want to read it; just click here for Part 7 of Cal's series.

I'm sure Betty Wosik is a pretty nice person (I don't know her), and I suspect she'll say that she works "hard for the money", but $42,269/year to sit in a chair while people hand money to you? That's what Betty earned in 2010.

Don't blame Cal for your heartburn or ulcers. And here we thought the increased tolls were going to pay for new roads. Yeah, sure. Keep in mind that Betty is just one toll collector.

I'll bet it would be an interesting study to calculate how much the Tollway collects from manned (No disrespect to the women toll collectors intended) toll booths (24/7) versus the costs (payroll, benefits, equipment, transportation of coins, counting, re-counting, depositing, etc.) of collecting those tolls.

And Betty is just one worker at that booth. Two other toll collectors use her chair to round out the day. And that just covers five days. What about the other two days with 24 hours each? Is it costing the Tollway almost $300,000/year to collect a few coins in that lane???

What if the Tollway determined that it costs more than it rakes in? Wouldn't good business management dictate just removing all the manned booths?

And what about those stop signs at the unmanned toll collection points on entrance ramps? Why should a full stop be required for a driver with an I-Pass? It is, you know. And you also know that you stand a good chance of getting rear-ended if you make a full stop!

When drivers get used to running one stop sign, is it any wonder that they run them in other places?

And don't forgot to drop that handheld cell phone when you are in a Work Zone (the entire length of the l-o-n-g work zone, even when no workers are present or it's the middle of the night or a week-end). The Work Zone is "hot" 24/7.