The Human Resources and Information Technology Committee met 10/25/2023. One of the items it took up was the Aldermanic salary for the term starting in April of 2025. Due to a state statute forbidding elected officials from voting on their own salary as well as the fact that alderpersons are elected to two-year terms with odd districts being elected one year and even districts elected on the other year, any change to the salaries for all of the alderpersons need to be voted on and approved at least 2 years prior to when they will take effect.
In 2021, the Common Council voted to increase the alderperson salary by 8.5%, bringing it up to $6,750 per year, effective in 2023. Then in 2022, the Council opted to not raise the salary for the 2024 term at all.
The Human Resources and Information Technology Committee deliberated briefly on the salaries for 2025 before opting to, again, make no changes to the salary and to keep it at $6,750.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.
Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14) made the motion to not increase the salary stating that, historically, he has not supported alderperson salary increases and that, looking at the data for comparable communities, he felt that Appleton’s aldermanic salary was on the higher end.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) also supported not increasing the salary, but not for the same reasons as Alderperson Croatt. Rather, she felt that the 8.5% compensation increase to the alderperson salary that became effective this year was in line with the increases in compensation for the mayor, city attorney, and department directors and that no further increase was necessary at this point.
Despite her support of not increasing the salary at this time, she believed that “by keeping salaries really low, we’re ensuring that the only people who can serve their community in this way are people who have sufficient income, and also have sufficient flexibility in their schedules that they can take time out for meetings. So, a self-employed person, or whose income depends on how many hours that they’re working, or someone who’s having to do a side gig to make additional money to pay for child care, et cetera, is often shut out of a position like this.”
Alderperson Patrick Hayden (District 7) also supported not increasing the salary, but thought that it should perhaps be looked at in the future. He mentioned the difficulty in finding inexpensive child care as a reason why someone, particularly single mothers, might not be able to run for Common Council.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) agreed that there was some inflexibility involved with serving on the Common Council, but she didn’t think it was income based. Rather, people who served needed to have some flexibility in their scheduled to accommodate attending meetings. “I don’t think pay necessarily solves that problem.”
The committee voted unanimously to approve the recommendation to not increase the salary in 2025.
[For what it’s worth, I don’t think you need people from all walks of life serving on the Council in order for the Council to represent the residents of the city. Part of being a representative is to listen to your constituents and take their perspectives, concerns, and feedback into consideration and to advocate for their needs and desires regardless of whether you as the alderperson look the same as them or are the same age or have the same background as them. There are 75,000 people in Appleton; only 15 of them will be alderpersons at any given time. If those people skew toward those who are excessively civically minded and who are either retired or who have jobs that are flexible enough to accommodate the meeting schedule, that’s not a bad thing. Additionally, regardless of what their circumstances are now, every one of the people on the Common Council has a lifetime of experiences, some of which may align with those of people they feel are currently not able to run for office, such as single mothers for example.
Additionally, everybody in the city is able, should they choose, to be involved in the city government process in one way or another, be it talking to their alderperson about issues that concern them, attending Council meetings, or serving on various committees and advisory boards to name a few. Participation in city government is not limited to the mayor and the Common Council.]
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1120411&GUID=0B4DF975-4476-4A2D-A0E2-66FB1A0C5A0
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