Breaking News
La Crosse council votes for delay on city administrator
The idea of hiring a city adminstrator for La Crosse is being put on hold, until after the spring election for mayor.
The city council voted 7-to-5 on Thursday to refer the administrator plan until May of next year. The next election for mayor and city council members will be before that, in April.
During discussion, several council members said the issue of having an administrator seemed rushed, and they want to give the public a chance to offer opinions on the idea. In 2012, La Crosse voters turned down a referendum calling for the administrator post to be created.
nick
October 11, 2024 at 5:31 am
I wrote to my city rep re the position. The salary was stated at approximately $180,000 plus benefits.
How much would that be. Have not heard back and it has been a least a week
walden
October 11, 2024 at 11:13 am
Nick, they will lowball the number if you hear back at all. Please share if you do hear back.
The school district talks about a $52million referendum without telling you there will be another $15 million in interest on the debt that taxpayers will also have to pay.
Similarly, my conservative estimate for the city admin position would include 45 to 50% of the base salary they quote as benefits, bringing the total cost to $265,000 per year. Remember, Wisconsin city administrators get spending allowances, probably a car, relocation package, plus will receive a state pension of $1 million or more, to go along with their multi-year contract so they cannot be fired. It’s a pretty good gig.
Libertarian Guy
October 12, 2024 at 12:06 pm
It is a good decision on the part of the City Council to delay a decision on city administrator until after the April election. Many people in our community suspect our current mayor will not run or will be voted out of office. He is pushing the idea of city, administrator and several members of the council are willing to go along with the idea in knee-jerk fashion. Thankfully, several other thoughtful and reasoned council members said No, wait until after the next election because we would likely have a new mayor and new members of City Council. As Walden has correctly pointed out, The school district of La Crosse has a problem with its superintendent/administrator. Why do we want to crate the same problem with the city government as well. That is, hire someone on the unproven belief an administrator can save money, and then when it doesn’t work out, voters are unable to fire the administrator.
Bob N.
October 13, 2024 at 8:57 am
These Administrator/ Manager/Superintendent types quickly move from municipal employee to town top gun, often forgetting that they are employees, unelected, who work for the elected municipal board who hired them.
The Tribune has a letter to the editor this week from the former County Administrator endorsing the former County Board chair for the local Assembly seat. He says it’s his first and last public endorsement, but then, he also said a few years back that his Facebook tasteless comment about talk-show host Rush Limbaugh’s death, for which he apologized, was his last public comment about matters other than County Board business. He either has a short memory or he thinks we do.