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Alders consider increase in pay
Outgoing council member says she been contemplating making position full-time
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Because City Council members are reportedly working up to 40 hours per week, talk about providing full-time pay to Madison alders has been brought to the table.
Although nothing official is in the works, Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5, said discussion concerning City Council members’ salaries has surfaced between former and current alders for a while.
“There are advantages and disadvantages,” Webber said. “I can see some disadvantages to having a full time council, and I can see disadvantages to having things remain the same.”
Webber said she has been thinking about a pay increase for Madison alders for about five years. Initially, she and University of Wisconsin alum Tom Powell, a former District 5 alder, brainstormed the benefits and disadvantages of the prospective pay raise.
According to Webber, she was going to mention the salary increase when she left the council.
Ald. Brenda Konkel, District 2, said City Council members currently earn about $7,000 per year and work anywhere from 10 to 30 hours per week, depending how “busy” a particular week is.
“They vary by week and [by] the level of activity the alder personally wants to put in,” said Ald. Eli Judge, District 8.
Judge added he usually works anywhere from 25 to 40 hours per week.
In addition to serving on the City Council, many council members also maintain full-time jobs.
Konkel, for example, works full-time at the Tenant Resource Center, while Judge is a full-time senior at UW.
Konkel added though the mayor’s office has more than $1 million, she does not believe there are enough funds to provide each alder with full-time pay.
According to Webber, the council would have to be made smaller to increase the pay for council members without putting the burden on taxpayers, which would result in each council member representing a larger constituency. Special interests would also be more prevalent, making it easier to influence council members, Webber added.
Rachel Strauch-Nelson, spokesperson for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, said the mayor has not seen a large amount of support from the community regarding an aldermanic pay increase.
“If districts grow, so do expenses,” Strauch-Nelson said. “The barrier to entry is pretty low now, and larger districts would prevent opportunities to run.”
Judge, however, said a higher salary can be an incentive for people to run for office who would be unable to support themselves on an alder’s current salary. He also added some people who are unable to run for alder may be able to offer “something unique” to the city.
Meanwhile, Konkel stands firm in her disapproval of increasing aldermanic wages.
“I don’t know that we want professional politicians serving on the City Council,” she said.
Still, she acknowledges council members need more help in the office.
Both Judge and Webber will not be running for reelection in the aldermanic race April 7. Judge will be graduating from UW, while Webber said salary is not the reason she is stepping down from office.
— Heather Burian contributed to this report.
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From Robbie Webber:
I want to make very clear that what I said to this reporter, and what I said to the Cap Times reporter, was that AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE, Madison, like any other growing city, will have to decide when is the appropriate time to have a full time Council, with full time pay.
Are we there now? Maybe, maybe not. But if the city continues to grow, we will reach that point. Two years, ten years, twenty years from now?
Note that the Mayor’s office has added quite a few new positions in the last six years, when both Mayor Dave and I were elected. The Mayor and his staff have also received fairly substantial pay increases. The Council has not received one penny of pay increase in the same, and while our two staff people have received standard pay increases according to union contract, we do not have any additional staff.
Right now, most alders have some flexibility in their work schedules: either they work for themselves, set their own hours, are retired, or are students. In many ways, the Council does not represent the city at large, because so many people don’t feel they can run for alder because of the enormous time commitment. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to about running, and they tell me, “I’d like to, but I just can’t handle the hours with my job.”
Yes, there are significant disadvantages to professional politicians, but at what point in a city’s growth is the work load of alder too much for people with full-time jobs to support themselves and their families?