MADISON — As a U.S. Army master sergeant serving a combat mission five years ago in Iraq, Evan Wynn earned $35,000.
As a lawmaker in the state Assembly in 2011, Wynn makes closer to $50,000.
So when he was offered additional perks — health and retirement benefits, mileage reimbursement and an $88 per diem for every day he has to come to work in Madison — the Whitewater Republican declined.
His constituents "don’t get mileage for showing up for work. They don’t get per diem for showing up for work. I just don’t think it’s right to live differently than they do,” he said. “I spent 22 years in the military, and I was taught to lead by example.”
Daily bill
Wisconsin has been through a tough year.
Led by Gov. Scott Walker, Republicans pushed through collective-bargaining changes aimed, the GOP said, at addressing the state’s $3 billion budget gap.
Local governments, meanwhile, have been dealing with their own ailing budgets, and the ranks of job seekers are growing once again.
Unemployment was up to 7.9 percent statewide in August.
Of the 99 members of the Assembly, however, Wynn joins two other legislators who have opted not to take per diem this year, state Reps. Scott Krug, R-Wisconsin Rapids, and Peggy Krusick, D-Milwaukee.
“We’re all in this together,” said Krusick, explaining why she has returned about $10,000 to the state coffers since January 2009, by taking furlough days and voluntarily giving back a portion of her salary.
Democracy, though, isn’t cheap. And as lawmakers prepare to return to session, taxpayers pay the price.
Wisconsinites, in fact, pay a total of about $8 million each year to legislators alone, according to a Wisconsin Reporter analysis.
Included in that calculation:
- The Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported earlier this year that for the previous two legislative sessions, per diem cost taxpayers on average $1.18 million in the odd-numbered years and $872,000 in the even-numbered years.
- There are 132 lawmakers in the Assembly and the Senate, and each earns a base salary of $49,943 per year.
- In addition, legislators are allowed a 48.5-cent mileage reimbursement for one round trip between their house and the Capitol each week they have to be in Madison for legislative business.
- Seven Assembly members, most of whom live in the Madison area, do not get their mileage reimbursed, and one senate seat is open.
The mileage reimbursement for the remaining 91, for each week they all come to Madison, is $10,091.41, said Assembly Chief Clerk Patrick Fuller.
If all 33 senators request mileage reimbursement, it’s another $3,375.66, according to Wisconsin Reporter calculations, using the voting addresses senators listed on their legislative websites.
Lawmakers also get reimbursed when they come to Madison for other legislative business, such as committee meetings. But those costs are not included in Wisconsin Reporter’s analysis.
There are 19 session weeks on the proposed legislative schedule for 2011, including the session set to begin Oct. 18.
The Wisconsin Assembly allows its members to collect per diem 153 days each year.
That doesn’t include days that could be added under Walker’s call for a jobs-centric special session, which technically began Thursday. But legislative leaders said they intend to run the special session and regular sessions concurrently.
Per day comparisons
Wisconsin's neighbor to the south pays its
lawmakers more to cover daily expenses.
Illinois' per diem rate is $111 during
session, as paid by the state's
Comptroller's Office, Brad Hahn spokesman
for Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka,
told Wisconsin Reporter.
Illinois traditionally had based its per diem and mileage rate on the federal government rates, but state lawmakers have voted to set their own rates in the past few years. While the federal per diem rate for Springfield, Ill., is $139, Illinois allocates $111 to lawmakers. The federal mileage reimbursement is 51 cents per mile, while Illinois pays 39 cents per mile, Hahn said.
Illinois pays its 177 lawmakers $19,647 per day in per diem, and $23,712.78 per week in mileage reimbursement. Last year, the state spent $1,667,607.79 in per diem and mileage during session.
That's on top of a base salary of $67,836 per year Illinois lawmakers pull down, far outpacing legislative salaries in the region. Iowa lawmakers earn $25,000 per year; legislators in South Dakota and Nebraska make $12,000 per year.
But sessions vary.
Illinois' session typically spans six to eight weeks in spring, with a two-week fall veto session. Wisconsin has longer regular sessions in spring and fall.
Payment schedules vary, too.
Alabama lawmakers, for instance, earn $10 a day in base wages, but collect a session per diem of $3,958 per month plus $50 per day for three days during each week that the Legislature actually meets during any session, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which assists policymakers in exchanging ideas on state issues.
Iowa's per diem is $118 per day, $88.50 per day for lawmakers who live in the state's Capital county. Iowa also is among several states that count per diem pay toward lawmakers' state retirement benefits.
In Wisconsin, like many other states, average per diem also comes with no income tax attached.
Several states, like Illinois, have taken steps to reduce the amount paid in per diem, a reflection of the difficult times.
While Hahn said Illinois' Comptroller's Office doesn't take a position on the politics of per diem, he said the laws were created under the belief that lawmakers should be reimbursed for their hotel and meal expenses in their official capacities.
"The philosophy behind why states do it is (lawmakers) are trying to do public work, and they want to prevent them from having to lose money in that service," Hahn said.
Limiting per diem
Daily legislative expenses make up a fraction of Wisconsin's multi-billion dollar budgets, but taxpayers are paying the bill. And in trying economic times, every expense adds up.
A Wisconsin Democrat, Rep. Mark Radcliffe, D-Black River Falls, has proposed a measure that would limit lawmakers to 50 days of per diem annually.
But the legislation has gone nowhere since being assigned to a committee in April.
Wynn said he believes there should be more study into what an appropriate level of compensation for legislators is.
“Unfortunately, it takes at least 50 votes to pass (a bill in) the Assembly, and there are a lot of people who don’t want to vote to reduce their own benefits,” he said.