By Paul Sloth
Journal Times | Posted: Friday, January 2, 2009 12:00 am
RACINE COUNTY - A majority of Racine County's legislative delegation this week said they plan to keep the additional $2,530 in salary they'll each get once the Legislature reconvenes on Monday.
Those local lawmakers who could be reached for comment said they would not add their names to a small list of their colleagues who planned to decline the pay hike that covers the Legislature's upcoming two-year session.
Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, said he would accept the raise because legislative salaries have not kept up with inflation since he first took office as a member of the Assembly in 1997.
Lehman and his fellow lawmakers made $39,211 annually back then. They'll make $49,943 for each of the next two years, up 5.3 percent from $47,413.
It's a 27.4 percent increase over the 12-year period since Lehman first joined the Legislature.
Lehman, who was elected to the Senate in 2006, admitted the current raise, which was approved more than a year ago, kicks in at an awkward time when many of his constituents are themselves either foregoing raises or possibly losing their jobs.
"When you're in the middle of the worst economic downturn in history it's hard to keep that longer-term perspective on legislative salaries," Lehman said. "I can understand why people are concerned, but legislators are not getting rich being legislators."
Lehman said he believes the process by which the state determines compensation for lawmakers and other state employees is reasonable.
The state's Office of State Employee Relations recommended the bump in pay for legislators and other state employees.
The Legislature's eight-member Joint Committee on Employee Relations must approve the agency's recommendation. The committee can modify any recommendation and can
override a governor's veto.
Full-time job, full-time pay
Wisconsin is one of 10 states with a full-time or nearly full-time legislature that requires legislators to work the equivalent of 80 percent or more of a full-time job, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Salaries can vary wildly, from the $11,600 per year paid to Indiana lawmakers to the $116,098 per year paid to legislators in California.
The amount of time legislators spend working on state business varies too. Larger states are more apt to require more time of their legislators and in turn are more likely to pay them more, according to the NCSL.
Legislators in Wisconsin and two of its neighboring states are paid enough to make a living without requiring an outside income, according to an NCSL comparison of legislative salaries.
Several Wisconsin legislators, like Rep. Robin Vos, R-Caledonia, have other sources of income including their state paycheck.
Despite the fact that he considers legislative salaries generous enough, Vos said he wouldn't decline the pay raise just to make a symbolic statement.
"I hate the idea of seeing people say, 'Hey, look at how fiscally responsible I am' by saying no to the raise, then turning around and raising taxes," Vos said.
Vos said he would be more than happy to join other state employees in freezing pay across the board in an effort to fix the state's looming $5.4 billion deficit.
A handful of lawmakers have said they'll reject the raise by either returning the money to the state or donating it to charity.
Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine said he would continue to donate his $88 per diem, which all lawmakers living outside of Madison can claim, to local charities, but he did not plan to decline the pay raise.
"I think everybody has to come to terms with that individually as legislators," Mason said.
Mason said it was more important for the Legislature to spend time figuring out how to create jobs and get Wisconsin residents back to work.
"I don't know if legislators not taking a pay raise is going to help that. If all we do is turn away pay raises, I don't think that's a good solution."
Rep. Samantha Kerkman, R-Randall, said she declined a pay raise in 2003 along with several other lawmakers. Kerkman returned the money each of the two years, about $1,300.
She doesn't plan to do the same thing this time around, mainly because legislators get the salary regardless of whether they want it and have to pay taxes on it, she said.
Kerkman said she's made a number of sacrifices through the years, including going without a full-time staff person in her office.
"I have looked at everything I sacrificed and have given back over the years. It is a difficult time," Kerkman said. "If I could give it back without there being a tax liability, it would be much easier."
Reps. Bob Turner, D-Racine, Scott Gunderson, R-Waterford and Sen. Bob Wirch, D-Pleasant Prairie, could not be reached for comment.
Legislative compensation through the years
-1997-98 - $39,211
- 1999-2000 - $41,809
- 2001-02 - $44,233
- 2003-06 - $45,569
- 2007-08 - $47,413
- 2009-10 - $49,943
Compensation is the same for members of the state Assembly and Senate.
Source: Office of the Assembly Chief Clerk
A history of getting paid
1848 - Legislative salaries were first set by the state Constitution and any changes required a constitutional amendment. Back then, lawmakers made the princely sum of $2.50 for each day's attendance.
1929 - The constitutional provision was repealed, and the salary level was set by statute.
1966 - Legislators' salaries, along with those of certain other state officials, were placed in a classification system that required final approval of the Joint Committee on Finance, rather than the full legislature.
1977 - The Legislature modified the procedure by requiring that salaries be set by law, based on bills drafted by the Joint Committee on Employment Relations.
1983 - Wisconsin Act 27 created the current procedure, which gives the Joint Committee on Employment Relations the final decision on salaries.
Source: The state Legislative Reference Bureau