Mayor to Continue Taking Salary Reduction

Madison – Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said today that he will continue to accept a reduced salary for the remainder of his term, fulfilling a campaign promise he made while running for mayor. As a result, City of Madison taxpayers will save $42,074 during his 4-year term in office. “When I ran for mayor, I promised to lead by example when it came to fiscal responsibility by taking a 5% cut in my own paycheck,” said Cieslewicz. “It did not seem right to ask city government to tighten its belt unless I was willing to do so myself.” When he took office in 2003, the mayor fulfilled a campaign promise by taking a 5% reduction from his $101,324 salary, to $96,258. He then froze his salary at that level in future years, saving additional taxpayer money because the mayor’s salary automatically increases each year by law. His full salary effective this month would have been $112,800 – an amount $16,622 higher than what he is accepting. “While $42,000 may not seem like much in the context of the entire city budget, it sets the right tone for the kind of efficiency taxpayers expect from their government,” Cieslewicz said. Cieslewicz is also working to restrain spending in the rest of city government by making more efficient use of scarce public resources. The property tax levy during his term in office has risen slower than the average of the last decade and a half. While the City of Madison added more residents last year than any other municipality in Wisconsin, there are actually fewer city employees this year than in 2005.