Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway proposed the city of Madison give every permanent city employee a one-time, $1,000 payment to help combat inflationary costs, according to an email statement to the Badger Herald from the Mayor’s Office.
The payments would go to about 2,900 employees by the end of February 2023.
While the $1,000 payments would be for full-time employees specifically, both full-time and part-time employees would be eligible for some sort of payment, according to Channel 3000.
“City staff have worked hard over the past two and a half years, going the extra mile to deliver top-notch services during a pandemic even though many departments faced staffing and revenue shortfalls,” a Mayor’s Office representative said in an email statement to The Badger Herald.
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In order to be enacted, the proposal will need Common Council approval as part of the 2023 budget process, according to the Mayor’s Office.
The funds would come from a rare multi-million dollar surplus in the city’s premium stabilization fund for employee life insurance and disability programs, according to the Mayor’s Office. Rhodes-Conway is proposing that $3.2 million of surplus funds go towards direct payments to city workers, as the money in the fund is provided by the workers themselves.
Rhodes-Conway hopes to use this rare surplus in order to help the workers of Madison when she believes they need it the most, according to the Mayor’s Office.
County Executive Joe Parisi put forth a proposal in April to get Dane County employees $1,000 payments to help offset the costs of inflation, but the Dane County Board voted against it in May, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
“I am grateful for the hard work, long hours and deep commitment to our community that our employees show,” Rhodes-Conway said in an email statement to The Badger Herald. “It’s nice that we can find a way to recognize them without burdening our taxpayers.”
