Supervisor Pay & Per Diem

You may have read in Saturday's newspaper that we are looking to trim down our pay a bit.  I had noticed that eliminating Per Diem was on the agenda for last Thursday's Executive Committee meeting.  Supervisor McCune also threw in an amendment to reduce supervisor pay by $600 per year (currently we are paid $6,600 per year).  I support both of these and commend Supervisor McCune for addressing Supervisor pay.


Per Diem pay, for our County government, is extra pay Supervisors receive if they attend more than 30 meetings in a calendar year.  In my view, if you are serving as a County Board Supervisor, and you are engaged with trying to serve the community, you shouldn't be concerned with receiving extra pay for attending a lot of meetings. 


It is conceivable that I might be eligible for per diem pay for 2017, due to my appointment to the Meeting Times Advisory Committee, along with a potential upcoming appointment to another committee.  I would turn down per diem pay if I became eligible.  I didn't run for this position with the goal of milking extra pay from the taxpayers.  Some other areas where I have exemplified the commitment to service rather than self-service include:

• I have never claimed mileage during my time as County Board Supervisor.  This includes a seminar in Green Bay where a carpooling option was available, but due to a schedule conflict I had to commute separately, consequently I did request mileage.
• I donate through direct payroll deduction 1 month of my County Board salary to the United Way, specifically targeting worthy organizations who partner with our County Government in some fashion (this is done through monthly deductions that equal 1 month of my salary.
• I will be purchasing a Parks sticker next year to support our very important park system.

For Supervisor pay, I know that City Alderman and School Board members receive significantly less than County Board Supervisors do.  It is quite probable that we are overpaid, and making a reduction of $600 per year in our pay rate is a healthy step towards changing that.  I think this is especially important when we are making tough financial decisions including the elimination of funding to worthwhile organizations like Friends of Abused Families, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, and Boys & Girls Club, and when we are asking our neighbors to buy annual park stickers to fund and support our wonderful park system,