Pay raise for La Crosse County Board approved in committee

If you pay them more, will they run? 

The La Crosse County Board will debate the idea of raising its own pay by about $300 a month, to attract new candidates. 

Most board members get paid $417 per month for their service now, and that amount has changed little in the last decade. 

At a 7:30 a.m. Executive Committee meeting Thursday, Board chair Tara Johnson said many people, who might like to run for a county board supervisor position, literally can’t afford to put in the time.

“If you are somebody who works in a job,” Johnson said, “where you can wear blue jeans and a T-shirt to work to earn your pay in that job, and have to buy a wardrobe that is suitable to serving on a county board, $400 a month doesn’t cut it.”

The chair also says some people in La Crosse might run for city council instead, because it pays more. 

The raise will be debated at a November board meeting. If passed, it wouldn’t take effect until after the spring election next year.  

The county executive committee turned down the idea of offering an extra $200 beyond that raise to county committee chairmen.