A new “compromised version” of a pay-to-play ordinance capping campaign contributions from developers and prospective city contractors will be rolled out by aldermen next week, more than a year after the mayor vetoed a similar version of the law.

A new “compromised version” of a pay-to-play ordinance capping campaign contributions from developers and prospective city contractors will be rolled out by aldermen next week, more than a year after the mayor vetoed a similar version of the law.

During an April 7 meeting, Alderman President Bill White said he and Mayor Joe Curtatone came up with an “agreeable version” of the proposed law, which the board plans to release to the public next Thursday. He did not say how the new proposed ordinance differed from the one the mayor vetoed in Sept. 2014 or the version the mayor introduced just months later.

“We had a discussion about coming up with a version of the pay-to-play ordinance, which would be acceptable to both the administration and myself and we’ve had those discussions and we came up with an agreeable version,” White said. “This is what I would consider to be a compromised version.”

Aldermen approved the state’s first-ever municipal pay-to-play ordinance by a 7- 4 vote in Sept. 2014 that would restrict campaign contributions from people looking to do business with the city or looking to develop large properties as well as their family members to $250. But the mayor vetoed the law, saying it would “politicize” the zoning and planning boards, which would have to keep track of applicants’ campaign donations, and hurt first-time candidates.

Curtatone introduced his own version of the law in Dec. 2014 that would create a $250 limit for developers and contract workers. It calls for an independent auditor to review applications from developers and people bidding on city contracts and examine their campaign contributions. Any donations of more than $250 would disqualify the bidder or developer until the excess donation was returned to the donor.

Throughout 2014, Curtatone took in more than $236,000 in campaign contributions from nearly 700 donors including residents and city employees, lobbyists and developers, people doing business with the city and businesses who could potentially partake in the city’s explosion of development, and friends and family members of all of the above. More than 600 people gave the mayor more than $250 and 300 – about 40 percent – gave the legal maximum of $500.

Aldermen are scheduled to first take up the new “comprised” pay-to-play law at next Thursday’s board meeting. During the April 7 meeting, Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang and At Large Alderman Mary Jo Rossetti said they were pleased the ordinance was being reintroduced. Rossetti voted against the aldermen’s original version of the law and Niedergang supported it.

Follow Danielle McLean on Twitter @DMcLeanWL or email her at dmclean@wickedlocal.com.