WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The approval of Wausau’s 2023 budget turned out to be the secondary story out of Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
The document passed on a 10-1 vote, but the big story turned out to be a last-minute proposal from Alder Doug Diny calling for the inclusion of a $129,000 salary for a City Administrator. The move caught many by surprise, including Mayor Katie Rosenberg. “This is actually the first time I’m seeing it (the proposal,)” said Rosenberg. “I didn’t get a chance to go over it live, while we were discussing it, but I think we can expect to be discussing this at some other point; either in the Finance [Committee,] HR [Committee,] or both.”
Diny offered the amendment in the form of a handout to the rest of the council, which outlined some basic job duties and called for the position to begin on July 1st. The proposal also called for the salary for the position to be paid out of the city’s budget surplus for 2022. The amendment died due to a lack of a second.
Diny also offered another amendment that would have essentially frozen the budget for the first six months of 2023, not allowing for any modifications unless extreme circumstances called for them. That motion was seconded but failed 10-1 with Diny the lone yes vote.
Rosenberg says she thinks the discussion is worth having at the appropriate time. “There are a lot of things that people want to have their fingerprints on, and they are elected so they should. But, we need to make sure we are having these discussions where they should be had.”
The Mayor adds that she feels there would be support for a referendum vote followed by long-form discussion at the committee level to refine the idea, a process that some on the council could get behind as well. “I think you are going to see a lot of hesitation to move forward with budgeting and hiring for this until people hear from the constituents. I’ve heard some of the Council saying ‘I’m not comfortable saying [yes] to this until we have another referendum that tells me that’s what we are doing.’”
The city has had at least one prior referendum on the matter back in 2015.
If the city is to move forward with the change, Rosenberg hopes that it comes as the result of public discussion at all levels including grassroots discussion between the Council and residents and at the committee level. When asked if she felt the idea was an attempt by Diny to throw something out there and see if it sticks, she immediately agreed. “Yep, I mean, that’s what we do, right? And hopefully, it’s informed, and it’s sticking for very good reasons.
“This is something we need to share our values on, so if you’re interested talk to your [alder,]” added Rosenberg.
