What does Waverly pay its city department heads?

If the Decorah City Council wants to spend as much money for salaries of top city government administrators as the City of Waverly does, it might have to spend an additional $200,000 a year.

The council's Finance Committee has asked for suggestions from City Administrator Chad Bird about which communities to use for comparisons for the amount city government department heads are paid.

The question arose after the Finance Committee--and full Decorah City Council--approved a proposal to raise City Manager Chad Bird's salary by $18,197 starting July 1st.  Bird had been getting paid $97,712 a year.

That pay raise will bring him in line with the salary paid to Waverly's new City Administrator, who will get paid $115,000 a year plus get a $3,000 a year gas allowance.

But, of course, it takes more than just a City Administrator to run city government.  A decorahnews.com reader sent us figures about the salaries paid by Waverly for other city department heads--figures later confirmed by decorahnews.com.

In three cases the salaries of City of Department heads are higher than their counterparts in Waverly (salaries are July 1, 2016--June 30, 2017):

Position	Waverly salary	Decorah salary
Water/Sewer Supt.	$52,437	$59,585
Wastewater Plant Supt.	$54,142	$66,045
City Clerk	$61,038	$66,045

But in all three cases, the person in the Decorah position had more responsibilities.  In Waverly the Wastewater Plant and Water Plant administrators are not called department heads, but "Senior supervisors."  The Decorah City Clerk also serves as Finance Director--a separate position in Waverly, with a $68,547 a year 2016-2017 salary.  That means Decorah actually spends $63,540 a year less on covering those responsibilities.

Two positions are pretty straightforward comparisons between the two towns:

Position	Waverly	Decorah
Library Director	$75,749	$64,137
Police Chief	$87,673	$75,568

Others make it difficult for true comparisons.  Waverly has a "full-time City Attorney/Economic Development Director," who will be paid $101,446 a year starting July 1st.  Decorah paid part-time City Attorney Rick Zahasky $65,117 in 2015.  Waverly's City Administrator, who is paid $115,000 plus $3,000 a year, is assisted by a staff member who handles zoning matters.  Decorah City Administrator Chad Bird, who will be paid $115,909 starting July 1st, has to handle zoning duties himself.

In all, city administrator salaries in Waverly are in the range of $815,000 a year.  City administrator salaries--and contracted payments for services--are over $610,000 a year in Decorah.

Does all of this matter?  Is Waverly a good comparison or should comparisons be made with other communities?  Most of all, does the Decorah City Council want to match pay levels in other communities dollar-for-dollar or just pay "fair wages?"  Those are the issues that will be discussed by the city's Finance Committee.