[RP TownTalk] Mayor and Council Salaries

[Rob Oppenheim]

I am introducing legislation to update the Mayor and Council's compensation. 

This legislation will be announced in the next Town Crier and will be discussed 
at the next council meetings. If the legislation passes it will take effect in July 2007. 
It was last changed in 1995, which makes it 12 years between changes. A bit overdue. 

The current salary for a council member is $200/month and $400/month for the Mayor. 
I am proposing to make this $450/month for council members and $900/mo for the 
Mayor starting in July 2007 after the next set of elections.
 
I think compensation should be linked to participation. "Do nothing" would mean 
"get paid nothing." Do more and get paid more - up to a monthly limit. If this were 
ever implemented, it would encourage attendance, discourage tardiness, and be 
fair for a wide range of participation.
 
Compensation could be based on public activity, so it is easily verifiable, things 
like attending meetings and writing legislation and Crier articles. Yes, the mayor 
and council do lots of other work. Public activity is a good reflection of their total 
activity.

I am introducing a change to the Town Charter that would allow such pay-for-work 
compensation to be enacted. (That does not mean it will be - it only means that it 
could be). Some council members oppose this idea pretty strongly. I will leave it to 
them to put forward their positions. 
 
I hope you will express your thoughts to the council. The best way to do that is at a 
meeting. You can certainly comment here too.
 
There are other Charter changes and a lot of change to the fence and hedge code. 
I am still writing this up for the Crier. Once done, we can look at posting it here too.

-Rob Oppenheim
 
Ward One Councilman, Riverdale Park
5902 Cleveland Ave
Riverdale Park, Md 20737-1930
 
Home Office: 301 779 1745