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<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> People do not serve on the council for the money. Yet money matters. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Council members have to be able to afford to dedicate time to the job. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> As an example, along with many evenings and weekends, I set aside </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Mondays (all day each week) to work on town issues. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> I like to be positive about our town. If I were to be fully honest, I think </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> the town is worse off now than 12 years ago, and we are facing serious, </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> challenges ahead. The mayor cannot do this alone. A good, creative, </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> hard working council is critical to bringing us back and to move us forward. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> My proposal is not based on inflation, rather on what it will take to move </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> the town forward. I first suggested a cap of $600/month with pay based </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> on participation (meaning some would get significantly less). I got shot </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> full of holes on that, so I backed off to $450/month. Frankly, I doubt if </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> even that will pass. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> -Rob</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> P.S. Regarding Inflation and what other towns pay ...</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> >... So, this would be quite a raise, not simply a Cost of Living adjustment.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> True. But not as much as it might look at first glance. Arguably the RP </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> council was underpaid in 1995 when it was last changed.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Back in 1991, Hyattsville started paying $250/mo. In 2004, College Park </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> started paying $367/mo. Adjust their rates for inflation and project to 2007 </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> and you get about $440/month**. Also consider that these are much larger </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> towns and have a lot more staff to support the Mayor and Council. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> (And they have a larger tax base to afford it too).</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> **Any pay change will become effective in 2007, so figure 12 years of inflation </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> for RP and 16 years for Hy. I used the Employment Cost Index (ECI) for state </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> and local government workers,</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Ref:</FONT> <A HREF="http://www.economagic.com/em-cgi/data.exe/blsec/ecu11113i"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> http://www.economagic.com/em-cgi/data.exe/blsec/ecu11113i</FONT></A><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> ECI for Hy at 16 years is about 76% = $440, </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> ECI for RP at 12 years is about 50% = $300 </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> ECI for CP at 3.5 years is about 14% = $420.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> [end]</FONT></div>
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