[RP TownTalk] Mayor and Council Salaries

[Andrew Farrington]

I didn't make it to the meeting last night, but I thought I would observe 
that -- according to the calculator at http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ 
-- "What cost $200 in 1995 would cost $248.83 in 2005," and "What cost 
$400 in 1995 would cost $497.67 in 2005."

So, this would be quite a raise, not simply a Cost of Living adjustment. 
Which seems fine to me, I suppose.  I heard said that our county council 
people are making like $80K a year or something?

  -Andrew Farrington
4605 Queensbury Road

On Tue, 19 Sep 2006, Rob Oppenheim wrote:

> 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
>
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