(Published Saturday, March 17, 2007 11:08:32 PM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Marcia Nelesen Gazette staff
City Manager Steve Sheiffer's recent salary increase has surfaced as an issue in the spring election.
Candidate Russ Steeber said at a recent forum that he would not have voted for the increase, which included a 3 percent retroactive raise to January and another 2 percent in July.
Sheiffer's salary was $134,973 in 2006. His raise brought him to $140,413 in 2007.
Union city workers received a 2 percent raise on Jan. 1 and another 1 percent on July 1.
Steeber said at the forum that he would have voted to keep the city manger's raise more in line with other workers.
Candidate Karl Dommershausen agreed with Steeber at the forum, but said Thursday he is now uncertain how he would have voted because he learned that the council looked at a list of comparable salaries.
George Brunner, the only incumbent seeking re-election, said at the forum that the council considered the 2006 salaries of city managers around the Midwest.
The council found that Sheiffer's salary was less than the average, and Brunner said that weighed in his decision to vote for the increase.
Dommershausen said his opinion, too, may have changed if he had seen the comparables.
Here are the comparables the city council studied when it discussed Sheiffer's raise.
The comparables were given to The Janesville Gazette by Susan Musick, human resources director for the city.
