By Jon Wiener
City council members stopped just short of putting a proposal on the June ballot to triple their salaries, but said they plan to come back with a similar plan in November that they hope is more likely to get voter support.
Council members supported the concept of the increase to $1,500 a month in a 5-2 vote, with Matt Pear and Vice Mayor Greg Perry objecting. By putting the pay raise measure on the November ballot instead of approving a committee recommendation to call a special election in June, the council will save an estimated $100,000. Several members said it was worth saving that amount at the risk of the issue becoming a political talking point in this fall’s city council race.
“We’re not giving ourselves a raise,” explained Mike Kasperzak, the chair of the council procedures committee that made the recommendation. “We’re asking the voters, ‘Do you think the council should get X?'”
“X,” in this case, is $18,000 a year, tied to inflation, with a 25 percent bump for the rotating position of mayor. Council members currently earn $6,000, which they say is far too little for the amount of work they do.
Kasperzak is in his eighth year on the council, and will be termed out this fall. Last year, he proposed a referendum on the direct election of the city’s mayor but failed to gain enough support among his colleagues.
“Everybody thinks it is the political third rail,” he said of proposed pay increases, “but these things are usually overwhelmingly approved. The voters really believe … you get what you pay for.”
Tuesday was the council’s last chance to call a special election in June. Instead, the council asked staff to prepare wording for a ballot measure for this November. Under the city’s charter, council salaries can be changed only by a vote of the people.
The council also recommended that the pay increase not take effect until January 2009, rather than the proposed start date of 2007, and made it easier for members to skip meetings without having to pay a $25 fee.
“All of us are going to have to win an election to get this pay raise,” said Tom Means. “So if the voters think we’ve earned it, they can decide.”
Perry reiterated concerns he first expressed when serving on the procedures committee last year, saying that the proposed salary could drive up the cost of campaigns, or might be high enough to attract political parties hoping to reward loyal volunteers with a seat.
Pear, on the other hand, said it would not be nearly enough to draw lower-income candidates into the race. He said that the main obstacle to entry on the council is the amount of time members spend attending to their responsibilities.
“If you’re really serious about opening it up, you have to look at the time commitment,” Pear said.
E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener
