Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Ironwood Township — Following a brief public hearing, the Ironwood Township Board approved the budget last Monday.
During the public hearing, the board debated a proposed 48-cents-an-hour raise for the township’s elected officials who work at the township hall.
The raises were included in the budget shown to the board members at a prior meeting and match the raise given to the township’s union employees, according to Clerk Mary Segalin, however there hadn’t been any formal discussion by the board regarding the amount of the raises until Monday.
Initially the board’s discussion centered on whether there should be a link between wages of union employees and elected officials.
Several board members argued the union and elected officials were two separate entities and there was no reason to link the salaries.
The board also discussed whether raises should be given at all.
“When a raise occurs, its justified for usually a couple different reasons — one is, there hasn’t been one in a long time and people are doing a good job, but it’s also a reflection of job performance,” said Trustee Steve Boyd. “I have real concerns about, for example, the audit coming in (and) being so late and everything like that. I look at that and say, ‘Does that justify a raise?
“And I’m not blaming anyone because there has been a lot of stuff going on with (the audit), but to me, that kind of stands there as an issue. Whether it’s valid or not, I’m not sure what to say. When I look at (the reasons people get raises), it’s often for longevity, or because of exceptional work done, or things like that. So I’m not sure that applies here.”
Boyd made clear he wasn’t necessarily blaming the officials — Segalin, Supervisor Alan Baron or Treasurer Jyl Olson-DeRosso — for all the issues with the audit, but that he would like to hear the results before raises are approved.
“The three of you, I’m not trying to assess blame ... but the fact is it hasn’t happened, and it’s an unusual situation,” Boyd said. “Now if (the delays) are caused by things we have no control over whatsoever, I understand, a computer crash or something ... I would like to have a little better handle on the root causes.”
Segalin said she recently called the auditor for an update and hasn’t heard back.
Ultimately, board members decided to remove the raises from the budget to allow them to move forward, while agreeing to deal with the issue at a future meeting.
“So we would pass (the budget without the raises), with the idea we would revisit this once the audit is completed and all the questions have been answered. Does that seem reasonable?’” Boyd asked.
“I want to do that in such a way so that once this is done, you will get the raises. I don’t want this to end up with some ‘Roberts Rules of Order’ mistake. I would want to revisit this once (the audit) is done.”
With the raises removed, the elected officials’ salaries were set at 2015 levels of: supervisor/assessor, $48,445; clerk, $39,269; treasurer, $36,445, and trustees $6,825.
The approved budget has a general fund revenue of $923,050 and $919,983 in general fund expenditures. That is with the $2,985 — or $995 per elected official — in raises left out of the budget.
The budget was passed as part of a package of resolutions dealing with township business such as the capitalization policy, the opt-out of the state’s 80/20 health care requirement, and a fireworks permit for Big Powderhorn Mountain Resort. Segalin and Boyd abstained from the fireworks permit vote.
Other resolutions dealt with the water fund budget, which had $380,075 in revenues and $378,555 in expenditures and the wastewater budget, with $318,075 in revenues and $317,300 in expenses.
