A measure to increase pay for elected officials in Milwaukee—which would include members of the Common Council—was sent back to committee during a council meeting Monday. The council also chose to uphold a veto the Mayor made regarding the budget process for the city.
Pay Increase
The proposed pay increase, which would essentially give Milwaukee aldermen a 13.6% pay increase over four years, was first discussed at a subcommittee meeting last week. Ald. Chantia Lewis is the lead sponsor of the resolution. She said she introduced the measure to attract quality employees to elected positions in the city. It has been 10 years since elected officials have received any pay raises.
“It's difficult to attract the level of talent to any of the departments, as well as the elected positions and the department heads,” said Ald. Lewis during a Finance and Personnel Committee meeting last week. “If we can't have those pay raises increased… then we are bumping up against a glass ceiling.”
The pay increase would begin in 2020 with a 4% increase and would continue the next three years with 3% increases. Currently, alderpersons make approximately $73,000 per year. If the measure passes, that number would increase to just over $83,000 in 2024.
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Ald. Lewis added that elected officials in many cities with comparable populations to Milwaukee, such as Detroit and Minneapolis, make more than the elected officials in Milwaukee. She also added that the increase wouldn’t start until 2020, meaning the raise wouldn’t necessarily be given to the current alderpersons who are serving their term.
However, Ald. Michael Murphy did not agree with the pay increase, saying “It’s more about what is fair in terms of what the average citizen we represent every day faces.” He added that the average citizen in Milwaukee makes $36,000 a year—half the amount of what Milwaukee aldermen make each year.
The Legislative Reference Bureau confirmed that the pay raises would come from the pension reserve fund. During his 2019 proposed budget address, Mayor Barrett announced that there was a $13.4 million credit in the pension fund.
“As tempting as it might be to tap into that money now, it would be an enormous mistake withdangerous implications for future city budgets,” Mayor Barrett said during his address. Mayor Barrett was contacted for this story, but he did not respond.
Ald. Lewis did not say when the motion would be discussed again by the Finance and Personnel Committee.
Mayor’s Veto Upheld
Mayor Barrett previously vetoed a resolution that would direct the Intergovernmental Relations Division to lobby for state changes to re-establish a board of estimates for creating the city budget. The resolution said this board would “improve the responsiveness of the budget process to the needs and wishes of Milwaukeeans and the officials elected to represent them.”
The board would consist of nine members, including the mayor, common council president, comptroller, budget and management director, police chief, commissioner of public works and chairs of the Common Council’s finance, public safety and public works committees.
However, the mayor’s veto was upheld Monday, meaning no such board will exist in Milwaukee anytime soon. Ald. Bob Donovan spoke in favor of the resolution Monday, saying he would simply like the Common Council to have a “seat at the table.
“At the end of the day, the council essentially ends up moving the crumbs around the table. Doesn’t this city benefit when the mayor and the council work together,” said Ald. Donovan.
Ald. Donovan said that when the mayor presents his budget to the Common Council, they only have a month to look into it. The mayor presented his budget to the council on September 25 this year—the council will vote on the budget on November 13. The Finance and Personnel Committee has been meeting nearly every day to discuss specific items in the budget.
In his veto letter to the council, Mayor Barrett said he did not believe this measure would improve the budget process. He also said that the comptroller provides an independent insight into the city’s spending.
“The current division of functions creates accountable and transparent financial management,” Mayor Barrett said in his letter. The city also has a budget management office which helps create the budget, housed within the Department of Administration.
A board of estimates existed in Milwaukee from 1907 until 1978, when a new state law changed the budget process for the city. Other cities such as New York, Baltimore and Minneapolis currently have a board of estimates.
The resolution needed 10 votes to override the veto, but only received eight.
