Item tabled until Nov. 18 public hearing

By Peter J. Devlin
Advocate correspondent

The issue of pay raises for village of Egg Harbor's elected officials was sidelined Monday when a village trustee questioned the size of the proposed increases, compared with pay raises voted on for village employees.

Village President Nancy Fisher supported increasing the pay incrementally for members of the Village Board after learning nearby communities compensated their board members at higher rates than Egg Harbor officials are paid. The last pay raise for village trustees was in 2005, Fisher said.

Trustees in Ephraim make $3,600 per year, Fisher said, while Gibraltar supervisors are paid $3,800 annually. Egg Harbor trustees make around $1,800 per year, she said.

State law prohibits government officials giving themselves pay raises. Therefore, the proposed $600 per quarter pay rate would take effect for trustees elected in 2010, with another $400 bump in 2011, when the remaining trustees would be elected. Trustee pay would rise to $2,970 in 2012 and to $3,059 in 2013.

The proposed increases would add about $400 per year to trustee compensation, raising it to $2,400. The village president would be paid $4,200 per year in 2011, $4,500 in 2012 and $4,635 in 2013.

Fisher had proposed last summer no pay increase for employees in 2010. However, the employee pay package awaiting final approval by the Village Board does contain a small increase next year and a total increase of slightly more than 6 percent through the end of 2012, according to discussion at Monday's meeting.

Trustee Mike Fitzgerald said he didn't think the trustee pay raises were appropriate. "I guess I'm questioning that we gave employees a half of a percent, and now we're giving 15 percent to the board," Fitzgerald said.

"You know, when I am compensated the way our employees are, then I would probably go for half a percent myself," Fisher said.

The village does use comparative pay scales in other communities in Door County to determine employee compensation, Fisher said. "We are fair to our employees. Why are we not being fair to ourselves?"

"We haven't had an increase in five years, and we're way behind everybody else," Fisher said.

The board voted to table the trustee pay raises until later this month, when the board conducts a hearing on the proposed 2010 village budget. That hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 18.