Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson seeking 2% raises for general city employees
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson will propose increasing many city employees' wages by 2% next year in an effort to hire and retain workers — and his chief of staff told a Common Council committee Wednesday that Johnson would be open to raises for elected officials as well.
"It's one of those things that you can't afford to do, but it's one of those things that you can't afford not to do, either," Johnson told the Journal Sentinel ahead of the Finance and Personnel Committee meeting. "That's where, under my administration, we have come to this point that we've got to make investments in our people, in our greatest resource. Otherwise we won't have the folks who are going out there and delivering the services."
The proposal will be part of the 2023 recommended budget that Johnson is scheduled to unveil Tuesday. The intent is to provide 2% raises to existing employees each year, with an additional one-time 1% bump when employees reach five years with the city.
The proposal would affect "general city" employees, meaning police and fire employees represented by unions are not included.
The 2% increase next year would amount to about $3.1 million, Budget Director Nik Kovac said.
But even as city officials discussed raising wages, not far from their minds was the specter of ever-more-strained future budgets as federal pandemic aid runs out. They hope the Republican-controlled state Legislature will provide additional shared revenue and allow the Democratic city to raise new forms of revenue.
"Obviously, we are facing the cliff in 2025 if things don’t work out with the state, so the commitment is for 2% in 2023, 2024 and then God help us in 2025 if we don’t work out something with the state," Ald. Scott Spiker said.
Kovac responded that if the cliff comes, the city will see attrition and probably layoffs. But, he added, the people who aren't laid off will continue to receive the increases in pay.
Johnson's Chief of Staff Jim Bohl told the committee that the city was seeing employees leave, job postings that attract no applicants and frustrations from existing employees who see new hires making similar wages to those who have years of experience with the city.
He also said that while general city employees have not seen regular raises, stagnant pay also affects elected officials who have not received a raise in at least a dozen years.
"If there is a desire on the Common Council to pursue a comparable wage increase for elected officials coming forward for the next term that matches the intent of what we see here ... Mayor Johnson would certainly be favorably inclined and would, I anticipate, sign that prospective piece of legislation if that were to move forward," Bohl said.
Elected officials' annual base salaries are:
Mayor: $147,335.76
City Attorney: $147,335.50
Treasurer: $114,039
Comptroller: $125,607
Municipal judges: $133,049
Common Council member: $73,222
Common Council president: $82,749
Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson seeks raises to keep employees
