The Brentwood City Council voted on Aug. 24 to unanimously give itself a 2.8% raise to keep in line with the raises given to other city employees.
“Based on state law, City Council is authorized or allowed to have a salary increase up to 5% each calendar year,” City Manager Tim Ogden said while presenting the agenda item at the Aug. 24 meeting. “The council last received a salary adjustment in 2014.”
According to Ogden, the motion was first brought up as part of the July 12 meeting when three different options for pay increases were discussed. Any increase would take effect in December following the upcoming elections for Districts 2 and 4.
The first option would be for the council to elect to take the full 5% per year increase allowed by the state. Since the council had not elected to raise salaries for eight years, that would amount to a 40% raise that would see the monthly salary increase from $939 to $1,314.
The second option presented by Ogden was to average out the raises given to non-elected department employees and increase council salaries by the same percentage. That averaged out to a 2.8% annual increase, bringing the monthly salary for council members up to $1,150.
The third choice, Ogden said, was for the council to increase their salaries by any percentage from 0% up to the 40% allowed by the state.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, both speakers expressed their support for pay increases for the council members based on the number of hours they put into their roles.
Council member Karen Rarey brought the agenda item before the council at the June 12 meeting. Rarey is not up for reelection due to the recent redistricting and, as a result, would not benefit from any potential salary increase. She estimated that council members often put in between 30 and 40 hours of work per week, making it nearly equivalent to a full-time job.
“I did not come into this to make money – to even supplement my income,” Council member Susannah Meyer said. “I’m torn on this. It’s hard to say I’m worth more than that when it’s not why we got into it.”
Following the council’s discussion, Rarey moved to select the 2.8% per year increase – a total increase of 22.4% – to keep in line with pay raises given to department employees.
“I just can’t see getting more money than they received,” she said.
The annual cost of the salary increases would be $14,760, according to the agenda packet presented at the meeting. Salaries for council members are paid for through the city’s General Fund. Since the current Operating Budget does not include salary increases for the council, the agenda notes that a General Fund budget amendment is needed, which will be formally introduced at a later meeting.
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