MOUNT VERNON — An ordinance increasing the pay for city council members, the mayor, law director, and city auditor drew criticism at Monday night’s city council meeting.
Mount Vernon resident Joshua Morrison said that under normal circumstances, he is all for increasing salaries. However, he said these are not normal circumstances.
“I understand the challenges you guys face: long hours, minimal pay, minimal recognition for a tremendous amount of public service,” he said. “Right now, a lot of us are facing hardships like you can’t imagine.”
Morrison cited food insecurity, housing, and unemployment as a few of those hardships.
“I think that at this time granting a pay raise to elected officials is a bad idea. It’s out of touch with the bad reality that we are in,” he said.
Morrison feels decisions about elected officials’ pay should be removed from self-interest. He said they should be placed under outside scrutiny such as with a wage increase commission.
“It would establish a more fair and transparent process and eliminate any conflict of interest,” he said. “… By relinquishing power on this vote to another committee, you would set an example for other communities.
“… With the soaring cost of everything, I do believe that you shouldn’t rush into this.”
Morrison also questioned how the city determined the proposed salaries.
Council must set the compensation by the November 2023 General Election.
The numbers
The proposed rate for city council members covers the years 2024-26. Compensation for the other elected positions covers the years 2024-27.
Council member Tammy Woods, chair of the Employee and Community Relations Committee, referenced two issues that surfaced:
•Other city employees received a 3 percent increase
•Council members maintaining their years of service with the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System
The following are the current compensation rates:
•Mayor $74,875
•Auditor $74,707
•Law Director $111,320 (plus an additional $12,000 the county must pay by law because the law director prosecutes cases involving individuals outside of the city)
The ordinance provides $85,000 for the mayor (roughly a 13.5% increase), $80,000 for the auditor (7%), and $117,000 for the law director (5%).
City council members currently receive $9,218. The ordinance decreases that to $9,015.
According to Auditor Terry Scott, council members need a 1.75 percent increase to keep them in OPERS. That is an annual salary of $9,379, an increase of $161.
Law director Rob Broeren said the $9,059 listed on the ordinance is a mistake.
“If we give everybody else a 3 percent increases like we gave our bargaining units that we bargained with for months, those numbers are significantly different than what’s on the legislation tonight,” Councilman Mike Hillier said.
A 3 percent increase equates to $77,121 for the mayor, $76,948 for the auditor, and $114,660 for the law director.
Raises as incentive
Twelve-year council member Janis Seavolt said council members previously did not take pay raises. Two years ago they did because they were not getting any retirement.
“To attract younger people to come on, you have to offer some benefits,” she said. “When we were going out trying to get people to run, we were running into that problem.
“That’s why we think we should get enough [compensation] so that least they can get some retirement to build toward.”
Relating to the other positions, Broeren shared consumer price information that council requested.
Between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, prices increased 4.9 percent. For years ending 2022 and 2023, they increased 8.5 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.
“It is true that the current union contracts are at 3 percent,” he said. “They will expire in June 2024, and our union partners have made it quite clear they will expect significantly more than that.”
Councilman James Mahan asked where the proposed numbers fit in comparison to other cities.
Woods and Council President Bruce Hawkins agreed the numbers were all over the board depending on the type of government, location, size, and demographics.
“It was really hard to look at those and find one that was comparable that was statutory government, about our size, [with our] housing …” Hawkins said.
Mayor Matt Starr provided some numbers about 2022 mayor salaries from the Ohio Municipal League:
•Average for all mayors: $87,416.65
•Average among mayors city population 10,000-25,000: $80,352
•Average for statutory government population 10,000-25,000: $85,814.32
•Average all statutory government: $88,661.86
Starr noted that mayors in two communities similar to Mount Vernon earn six-figure salaries.
Council gave the pay ordinance a second reading in its legislative session. Woods will hold another committee meeting on Oct. 9.
