By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
ASHWAUBENON – The salaries of three elected positions up for new terms next spring in the village were set Tuesday, Nov. 13, during a joint meeting of the Ashwaubenon village board and Finance and Personnel Committee.
On a majority voice vote, both governmental bodies favored keeping the annual salary of the village president at $30,000.
The current village president, Mary Kardoskee, whose position will be up for a new three-year term in April, did not support a salary increase.
The clerk-treasurer position, which is now held by Patrick Moynihan Jr. and will also be up for a new three-year term next spring, will be in line for a pay increase of $2,500 in each of the next three years to increase the current annual salary of $62,740 to $70,240 in the third year.
Village manager Allison Swanson recommended a 2.25 percent increase annually for the clerk-treasurer position, which is full-time.
She noted that proposed annual increase is the same percentage as what was included in the 2019 budget as a cost-of-living increase for all village employees expect public safety officers whose salaries are determined separately by provisions in their contract.
Swanson said full-time clerk-treasurers in communities the size of Ashwaubenon range in salary from $67,000-$85,000, leaving the village below the range for this position.
Those on hand for the joint meeting to vote on the clerk-treasurer salary instead favored increasing the salary by a specific dollar with Trustee Ken Bukowski making the motion for an increase of $2,500.
Though that motion passed on a majority voice vote, a question on the legality of increasing the salary during the term in office rather than keeping the salary set for all three years was raised by Village Attorney Tony Wachewicz.
“There’s a statute that seems to indicate that it should be a fixed salary amount for that entire term,” Wachewicz said. “So, instead of divvying it up and dividing it… (whether) it’s a percentage or fixed to kick in at a later date, I think there may be an issue with that. So really it should be a fixed salary for that specific term is what the statute that I’m looking at seems to be indicating, but I can look into that further.”
In response to Wachewicz’s comments, both governmental bodies then favored setting aside their vote on the clerk-treasurer’s salary until the village board’s Nov. 27 meeting to get clarification on the legality of increasing the salary during the term in office.
Then upon further review later in the joint meeting, Wachewicz said he found increasing the clerk-treasurer’s salary by $2,500 a year would be permitted and another vote was taken to approve that increase.
The joint meeting also featured multiple votes to approve the salary of the municipal judge, currently held by Gary Wickert, who will be up for election next spring for a four-year term.
After a motion to keep the annual salary at $23,000 in the first two years and increase it to $25,000 in the final two years of the term was rejected on a voice vote, the motion approved called for expending essentially the same in salary over fours, but kept it at $23,000 in the first year and increased it to $24,333 in the final three years of the term.