Assembly member Brenda Josephson’s proposal to reduce assembly pay resulted in an argument about elitism, leading by example and one assembly member storming out.
At a committee of the whole budget meeting June 4, Josephson proposed cutting assembly pay from $125 to $25 per meeting to “show leadership” during state budget cuts.
Borough assembly members are paid a maximum of $225 a month for a minimum of two meetings, and the assembly voted to keep the status quo at Tuesday’s regular meeting.
In discussion June 4, assembly member Sean Maidy opposed the proposed pay reduction, saying that the current pay amounts to minimum wage as it stands.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I need that,” Maidy said.
Morphet suggested zeroing out assembly pay entirely, saying that it probably costs the borough more in paperwork than to pay assembly members.
Assembly member Heather Lende called the idea “elitist” and “ridiculous” if the public wants the assembly to be representative of the community, not just composed of those with time and money to serve.
“It’s elitist to say we’re going to make that choice for everybody and then we’re going to pat ourselves on the back for being so generous,” she said. “What are you going to get? You’re going to get retired people, people with extra money. Some people have to get a babysitter. You (Tom) yourself have talked about paying for gas. Some people might even have to buy a frozen pizza because they’re getting home from work and they’re leaving for an assembly meeting. We’ve had four meetings this week and we’re only getting paid ($225 for the month). It doesn’t even cover child care or elder care or gas and if we want this assembly to be representative of the entire community and not just an elite group of people who have time and money to be able to be here, it’s ridiculous to cut the budget.”
Maidy called the proposal “disgusting” and said it was ironic that those in favor called the pay a pittance, but also suggested it’s $18,000 in savings would help reduce the estimated $500,000 deficit.
“I don’t know if we’re done here, but I kind of want to leave now,” Maidy said, walking out 10 minutes early.
Petersburg, Sitka and Juneau pay their borough assembly members stipends ranging from $150 a meeting to $500 a month for at least twice-monthly meetings.
Petersburg clerk Debbie Thompson said an assembly member recently proposed reducing the assembly stipend from $150 to $50 a meeting, but the motion failed.
“The reason it did not pass is that some of our residents boat into town for meetings,” Thompson said. “Professional assembly members that work during the day but have to come to noon meetings, would actually be paying to be an assembly member.”
The City of Wrangell’s assembly works as volunteers; three of six are retired. Assembly member David Powell, who works full-time, said if he had to pay for childcare so he could go to a meeting, he would never be on the assembly.
“My personal feeling is, I would feel that I was held to a lot higher standard if I was being paid,” Powell said.