[RP TownTalk] Mayor and Council Salaries

[Alice Ewen Walker]

I'm not opposed to making salary adjustments, but I question the benchmarks
used to calculate what is typical for a town our size.

The town should not use population as its filter for collecting salary
benchmarks from other towns.  Annual budget is a better way to compare the
scope and responsibilities that our town staff and elected officials are
responsible for.  That is what most agencies use to figure out comps.

Ocean City's mayor and council preside over a $65 million annual budget
which funds a $25 million police force, $17 million public works program, $4
million tourism office, etc. with a summer population of
250,000.  Including OC in the average benchmarks for salaries bumps
the average up quite a bit.

If
you used the median, instead of the average, then the benchmarks
change to more like $500 mayor and $400 council.


As a side note, Ocean City's compensation for
officials, relative to its annual budget, is even tinier than ours.
Looks like salary is not the main thing that attracts leadership in
that town either.

Thanks for the opportunity to comment.

- Alice Ewen Walker



On 12/2/06, Rob Oppenheim <oppenheim at email.com > wrote:
>
> This Monday evening (12/4/06) the council will vote to change its salary
> to $300/month ($600 for mayor).
>
> Salaries for towns about our size in Maryland average much more -
> $600/month for council members and $1000 for mayor.
> ( http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/2006-September/000901.html
> )
> Is that too much for Riverdale Park?
>
> About 30 towns also pay insurance benefits to council members in
> addition to a salary. We do not.
>
> We need a visionary council. We need to attract and keep good people
> on the council in order to create a better town.
>
> I spend 60 hours a month on council work. To do so, I cut back on
> paid work, which is forcing me to dip into savings. Ouch. Can't keep
> doing that, so I am cutting back on the time spent, yet it pains me to
> put off addressing so many pressing problems.
>
> * Do you think that our council should be paid the same as other *
> * towns our size, that is, $600/month? *
> Too much?
>
> Please let us hear from you.
>
>
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