The City Council built up some credit — just some — over the past few years by eschewing what were mostly reasonable recommendations to raise its members’ salaries. It was a simple gesture of restraint during a time of fiscal troubles.
I have always believed that members of the City Council should be paid higher salaries. Members of the county Board of Supervisors across town make twice as much to make much easier decisions. I’m not saying that’s the standard to go by, I’m just saying that $75,000 is not enough for the City Council.
I thought that over time, if they accomplished some fiscal stability, they could gradually boost their earnings to a higher level.
So what do they do? They go for a 24 percent raise in one fell swoop.
That’s just crazy. Yes, boost your salary but how about 5 percent this year, 4 percent next year and so on? Doing it all like this just completely ruins any good will the council built up in the last couple of years with restraint. Plus, it draws unnecessary attention to the issue. A 5 percent raise would have still angered those who really hate the council. But it would have skated by.
Boosting City Council pay by nearly a quarter in one year is an invitation to critics. The City Council should have thought better before sending it out.