EM Village Board agrees to disagree what “compensation” means for terms of office
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — The Elk Mound Village Board seems to have agreed to disagree, for the time being, about what “compensation” means for elected officials during their terms in office and whether it matters what the compensation is called to be able to change the compensation.
At issue is whether it is legal to reduce an elected official’s compensation during the official’s term in office.
The village’s attorney has been ill, and it has been difficult to connect with him to get advice about changing the compensation for village trustees and the village president during their terms in office, said Terry Stamm, village president, at the Elk Mound Village Board’s December 4 meeting.
The issue came to the forefront with a motion approved at the November 6 meeting allowing the Elk Mound Village Board to change the ordinance to have one meeting per month instead of two and to also cut the compensation for village board members in half as a way to save money on the 2024 budget since the board would only be meeting one time per month.
While the village board does have the authority to set the salaries for elected officials, according to Elk Mound’s ordinances, Section 2-2-8, the village board cannot change the salaries during the elected officials’ terms in office.
The ordinance references Wisconsin state statute Sec. 61.32, which authorizes village officials to set salaries for elected officials.
But state law also does not allow the compensation for village board members to be changed during their terms in office.
According to state Statute 61.193, “the compensation for an elective village office shall be established before the earliest time for filing nomination papers for the office or, if nomination papers are not used, before the caucus date determined under s.8.05(1)(a). After that time or date, no change may be made in the compensation for the office that applies to the term of office for which the deadline or date applies. The compensation established for an elective office remains in effect for ensuing terms unless changed.”
Four members of the Elk Mound Village Board were elected in April of 2023, so according to state law, the compensation for those positions cannot be changed until April of 2025.
Three positions on the Elk Mound Village Board will be up for election in April of 2023.
Salary vs. per diem
The statute states that compensation for elected officials may not be changed during their time in office, Stamm said.
That means the salary cannot be diminished or raised, he said.
Village trustees in Elk Mound receive $1,200 per year, and the village president receives $1,800 per year, according to the minutes from the meeting when the village board approved the salaries, Stamm said.
The amount must remain unchanged during the elected official’s term in office, he said.
Village trustee Tim Benjamin, who had proposed meeting one time per month instead of two and paying trustees and the village president half of what they had been being paid to save money, said there is a difference between salary and per diem.
A salary is fixed and a per diem is not fixed, he said.
Elk Mound Village Board members are paid a per diem per meeting, he said.
Per diem is a Latin term that means “by the day,” and generally refers to workers who are paid a certain amount for each day they work rather than being paid a set salary or it refers to expenses per day for travel, food and lodging.
Elected officials are not employees of a municipality, and state statute references compensation rather than salary, wages or per diem.
Elected officials also are not paid only to attend meetings. Their compensation also includes the time they spend speaking with residents about issues, reading background information on issues that are on the agenda and doing research on issues that have or will come before the board.
Misrepresentation
A few years ago, the Colfax Village Board wanted to hold one meeting per month instead of two, and instead of paying $20 per meeting for two meetings to pay $40 for one meeting.
Colfax’s attorney, Anders Helquist with Weld Riley, advised that it was not permissible by state law to change the compensation during an elected official’s term in office.
Saying that village board members are paid a salary is a misrepresentation. The state statue was not written with that intention, Benjamin said.
Benjamin did not elaborate on what he meant by the intent of the statute.
According to the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, in response to a question about whether the salary of governing bodies can be increased or decreased during their term in office, “The statutes (secs. 61.193 and 62.09(6)) expressly provide that compensation for elective offices may not be ‘changed’ after the deadline for establishing the compensation has passed. The word ‘change’ is broad and encompasses decreases as well as increases.”
The deadline for establishing the compensation for elected offices is before the earliest time that candidates can circulate nomination papers. For village trustees, nomination papers can be circulated starting on December 1.
Ambiguities
State law does not make any reference to how elected officials are compensated, whether the pay is provided at every meeting, once per month or once a year.
It was not clear from the discussion whether Elk Mound Village Board members receive a check at every meeting or whether they are paid once per month or whether they receive a check once each year.
Readers should also note it sometimes difficult to determine which village board member is speaking and exactly what they are saying, because some of them all talk at once and do not ask the village board president to recognize them before they speak.
Ordinance
The village’s ordinance could be changed from two meetings per month to one meeting per month with a change in terminology for paying per meeting, Stamm said.
There could be two parts to the ordinance, one part pertaining to the number of meetings and another part pertaining to pay per meeting, he said.
Since state law references compensation, it is not clear that even if the village board approves an ordinance change stating trustees and the village president will be paid a certain amount per meeting, or paid at each meeting, that the change could go into effect for the currently elected officials since it would be decreasing their compensation during their term in office.
