Alderman Pay Increase Nixed In Quick Fashion

One of the last acts of Fayetteville aldermen in 2012, as three members of the eight members prepared to end their time on the City Council, was to give themselves or their successors a raise.

On its face, it was a huge adjustment of almost 50 percent to $12,504 per year. But the aldermen who had served for the 14 years before the decision had decided against giving themselves any raise, no doubt due in part to the political sensitivities involved. These officials, elected to four-year terms, had made $8,400 a year since 1999.

What’s The Point?

Fayetteville aldermen made the right move when they chose not to support Alderman Sarah Marsh’s plan to bump up the City Council’s pay and tie it to future pay increases for city employees.

Alderman Sarah Marsh took her post days after that, replacing longtime council member Brenda Boudreaux. She was the immediate beneficiary of the preceding members' pay raise.

It's been a little more than a year, and Marsh thinks it's time aldermen get another pay raise. Thankfully, her colleagues said no.

Marsh's revealed her plans last Tuesday night as aldermen discussed a measure that would give city employees raises. The aldermen were eager to support Mayor Lioneld Jordan's plan to boost pay for 700 employees an average of 3.8 percent. The cost for Jordan's plan is about $1.2 million.

The Ward 1 alderman proposed an amendment that would forever link pay increases for aldermen to the same average percentage increase given city employees. She also wanted to make that retroactive to last year's 4 percent raise for employees, so today's aldermen would get a 7 percent bump. That would take their pay to $13,379 a year.

"I know a lot of people have come to me thinking about running for City Council and then they find out how much it pays, and they don't do it. While that may be job security for us, I don't want people to be limited by the pay," Marsh said.

How public spirited.

There is a reason it's called public service. The pay aldermen receive has never been meant as a form of true compensation for all the time spent attending meetings, studying research and speaking with constituents. Nobody should want anyone running for public office for the money they can make. It's certainly fair to provide some stipend as general recognition of the work that goes into the post, but if the load is too much to bear, the answer is to not run for public office.

Fayetteville's governmental history is littered with examples of people who are great successes in their lines of work, whose time is far, far more valuable than anything the city would reasonably pay. But they served out of a sense of public responsibility and duty. Likewise, the City Council has seen its share of people who, like so many, have had to wonder if the expenses would exceed the income each and every month. But they did it out of the same sense of public responsibility and duty.

We applaud them and appreciate them.

As it stands under Fayetteville ordinances, aldermen get a pay raise that matches the percentage raise the mayor receives. Lioneld Jordan hasn't accepted a pay raise since becoming mayor and said he didn't feel comfortable taking one until city employees are adequately compensated.

Generally speaking, we think it's fair when aldermen vote to pay themselves more that the rate increase doesn't take effect until after the next election so it doesn't appear so self-serving. And those discussions should always stand on their own and not be entangled with the full-time, working staff of city employees.

Commentary on 03/08/2014

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