Batavia aldermen won't be getting a raise

Batavia lawmakers, sympathetic to the economic pinch hitting many taxpayers, have decided not to give aldermen a pay raise.

The Batavia City Council Monday froze its pay, rather than approving a plan to increase pay by $40 per council meeting starting May 1 for those elected in April 2009. Those who are not up for re-election would have to wait until May of 2011, as it is illegal to raise the pay in the midst of a term.

Presently, aldermen are paid $170 per council meeting, or $4,080 per year. The rejected plan would have raised that to $5,820 by May of 2012. At $960 an alderman, it would have cost the city over $6,700 to raise the pay in 2009.

The city has an overall budget this year of $30 million in its general fund (which does not include its sewer, water and electricity operations.) An aldermanic pay freeze may seem like a drop in the bucket, but "There was a lot of emotion in that symbolic gesture," said Ald. Linnea Miller.

Another alderman, Jim Volk, proposed actually cutting pay 10 percent.

The council did agree to raise the pay of the mayor and city clerk 4.9 percent. Whoever is mayor starting in May will make $22.50 an hour, gradually rising to $26.05 by May 2012. The pay is capped at 100 hours per month; annually that would work out to $27,000 in the first year and $31,260 in the final year. The pay hike does not affect Mayor Jeff Schielke, who did not vote on the measure. His term expires in April unless he runs for and wins another term. He has not revealed whether he will seek re-election. Clerk Hannah Volk is stepping down.

"It's a little weird talking about your own money," said Miller, chairman of the government services committee, which oversees compensation for the council.