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Local preference sets town board pay

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JANESVILLE — After serving a year as chairman of the Beloit Town Board, Greg Groves decided he didn’t want to accept any more of his $2,500 annual salary.

“I just choose not to,” he said. “I believe in the community.”

Groves is a lifelong resident of the township and served 26 years on its fire department. He also volunteered—turning down the $1,500 salary—for six years as a town board supervisor before becoming chairman.

While pay for elected town board members can be minimal, Groves is the only unpaid board member among the 36 town boards in Rock and Walworth counties, according to a Gazette analysis.

The Gazette collected data on board chair and supervisor pay from the 20 towns in Rock County and 16 towns in Walworth County. The results show that annual budgets for pay vary widely, from as little as $2,300 for the Spring Valley Board to up to $40,000 for the Fulton Town Board. The data also shows that Beloit Township residents spend the least per resident for board members at 92 cents compared to the highest in Magnolia Township, where residents spend $20.97 each for board pay.

“That’s local government,” Rock County Clerk Lori Stottler said of the results. “That, I guess, may be the blessing and the curse of local government. It’s hard to get at a standard.”

Why so varied?

The pay varies so much because towns vary so much, said Lee Turonie, assistant legal counsel for the Wisconsin Towns Association.

“There’s over 1,200 towns in the state,” he said. “You might be in a town that looks like a city in one place or in another that looks like the country.”

Services, number of town employees, property values and regulations vary, resulting in more or less work for board members.

The number of board members also affects the total pay. Boards have two or four supervisors, and that decision is up to local preference, not population, Turonie said.

Board members in some towns receive per diems, and some receive mileage.

One factor that affects the board’s workload, and possibly pay, is whether the town has a full-time administrator; such is the case in Beloit Township. The administrator does some of the work that boards in other towns must do, Groves said.

The history of a town also can tell the story of its pay, said Dale Knapp, research director at the Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance. Some towns have long histories of paying, while others have traditions of public service and volunteer work, he said.

Some boards also might have started or increased pay because of a lack of candidates, several officials said.

There is no state standard for elected town officials, Turonie said.

“It’s just really local preference,” he said.

Voters set pay at annual meetings.

Board members have the legal ability to refuse salaries after a recent law change, Turonie said.

Highs and lows

Town of Fulton Chairman Evan Sayre makes $14,000 a year, making him the highest- paid chair in the two-county area. He said he puts in 15 to 20 hours a week on town business. Supervisors make $6,500.

“It can look like you’re getting rich, but you’re not,” he said.

The 3,291 residents make Fulton one of the more populated towns. The town differs from other, more rural communities because Fulton has two sanitary districts, a police system and a cluster of restaurants and bars around the Rock River/Newville area, he said.

Some Fulton residents in 2006 fought to lower the board’s pay, but electors rejected the motion 54-36.

The Magnolia Town Board ranks as the costliest board per resident. Voters at the town’s annual meeting in April 2007 approved a 100 percent raise, plus a 3 percent cost-of-living increase, for the chair and supervisors. The raise went into effect in April 2009.

Supervisor and town spokesman Dave Olsen said he was comfortable taking the raise, which brought his salary to $4,180 plus a $25 per diem per meeting this year. The chair makes $8,358 plus a $25 per diem.

“I think I do a very good job for the town,” he said. “I’m available 24 hours a day for any questions.”

The rural township has only 840 residents, but Olsen said board members still have roads to maintain and other duties.

“The citizens set the pay rate, and that’s the bottom line,” he said.

Spring Valley Township, which borders Magnolia’s southern line and has just 17 fewer residents, has the lowest-paid town board in Rock and Walworth counties.

The chair receives a $500 salary and $50 per diem, while supervisors receive only a $50 per diem.

The total annual cost for each resident is $1.56. Spring Valley is the only town that doesn’t pay supervisors a salary.

Chairman Steve Hazeltine was elected last spring. At the time, he didn’t know if or how much he would be paid, he said.

Aside from town meetings and business, he said he attends state towns association meetings and fire district meetings, but he didn’t know how his pay compared to that of other town officials with comparable workloads.

“It’s up to the residents, at the end of the day, whether they feel the town board represents what they believe in, whether their long-term strategy is taking them where they want to go,” Stottler said.