The Human Resources and Information Technology Committee met 01/27/2021. One of the items was a discussion about Alderperson salary.
Per HR Director Sandy Matz, this item should have been up for discussion in the fall, but with communication and routines upended due to coronavirus, that did not happen. They typically put it on the agenda in the fall because that is prior to the timeframe for filing papers to run in the spring aldermanic election so alderpersons are technically not voting on their own salary.
Although they missed that fall window, Director Matz brought it to the committee so they could start discussing it and consider what they should do. There were two basic options….
Option 1: They could consider a raise for April 2022. The alderpersons in even numbered districts would be starting new terms then and so current alderpersons would not be voting on their own salary. However, alderpersons in odd numbered districts would still be in the middle of their term and would be voting on their own salary. The end result is that they would be able to raise the salary in 2022 for the Common Council members in even numbered districts but not in odd numbered districts, so half would have one salary and half would have another.
Option 2: They could start discussions on a rate increase for salaries to go into effect in April of 2023. Both odd and even district alderpersons would have started new terms by then so they would be able to raise the salary equally for all alderpersons.
Alderperson Van Zeeland wanted to know if not voting on their own salaries was an actual rule or just how the city has traditionally chosen to handle this issue. [Note: I took this not as her wanting to increase her own salary but simply seeking background for information purposes.]
Director Matz thought there was a state statute that prohibited elected officials from voting on their own salaries. The attorney stated that was his understanding also.
A little later in the meeting Director Matz mentioned that she’d discussed this with Attorney Behrens and he said that an argument could be made that, even if an alderperson is running unopposed, someone could still mount a write-in campaign even if they missed the deadline to get on the ballot. But, he also told her that the safest thing to do would be to not do a raise in 2022 and instead do it for 2023.
Alderperson Thao wanted to double check that the last time they voted on a salary increase was in 2019.
Direct Matz confirmed that in 2019 they voted for a 1.5% increase to take effect in 2021.
Alderperson Thao also wanted to clarify whether any increase they voted on at that meeting would be effective in 2022 or 2023.
Director Matz stated that they could do either, but reiterated that if they voted to increase the salary in 2022 that it would result in only half the Common Council members having their salaries increased. If they set it for 2023 then it would be increased for everyone.
Alderperson Firkus thought it would be better to increase everyone’s in 2023 rather than doing half and half in 2022.
Alderperson Fenton agreed that it seems much cleaner to have this raise be for the 2023 term.
In what looked like a response to a question by Alderperson Thao, Director Matz told them they could take a number of actions at the committee meeting. (1) They could establish what they want the salary increase to be in 2023 and then recommend that vote to the Council next week. (2) They could hold it and as Director Matz to provide any updated information or data that they thought would help them to make a decision. (3) They could hold it and do nothing with it until the fall.
She reiterated that they still had some time; she just wanted to make sure this item came before them early so they didn’t risk missing it again.
The committee decided to hold it until March to give time for Director Matz to gather some more comparison data and for the attorney to double check what exactly State statute says about elected officials voting on their own salaries.
You can view full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=832169&GUID=F10F36A1-B162-442C-9A4C-4B96A74D96A2&Options=info|&Search=
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