A divided Louisville City Council voted on Tuesday evening for a dramatic pay increase for future council members and mayors — the first pay hike the council has voted for since 1999.
The measure that passed 4-3 on Tuesday included language that city staff pursue a metric by which future raises will be implemented as to avoid an 18-year lapse in raises.
Louisville’s mayor is currently paid about $6,000 per year, and the ordinance calls for that to increase 140 percent, to $14,400. The ordinance increases council members’ salaries 220 percent, from $3,000 a year to $9,600 a year.
The council has not increased its pay since 1999, when it went from $100 to $250, according to council member Jay Keany, who served on the council at the time.
The council members currently sitting on the board — as well as the current mayor — will not see the pay boost, as city code prohibits them from granting themselves a raise.
The ordinance is not without its detractors, and Mayor Bob Muckle and council members Chris Leh and Keany voted against the ordinance on Tuesday evening.
Muckle said that he would support a smaller salary increase but felt that the current ordinance gave too large of a pay hike in too short a time, echoing his previous comments on the matter.
He said at the meeting on Tuesday that he favored doubling the salaries but said that he was against tripling salaries because of “the appearance of tripling salaries.”
A fear that qualified people won’t run for council because of the low pay appeared to inform some choice of some council members to vote for the measure.
Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Lipton said prior to the vote that it is important to get Louisville council members’ and mayors’ pay to the median levels of similar communities, and it is difficult for the average person to run for local office because of expenses such as child care.
“I think there are some qualified people who would run, but you have to be wealthy or retired,” he said.
Louisville resident John Leary said during public comments that the city could afford a few thousand dollars out of its multi-million budget because “anyone who does this job for that amount of money is worth it.”
“I don’t think anyone ever runs for the amount of money they get on council,” he said. “I think it’s very possible people don’t run for council because of the money.”
John Bear: 303-473-1355, bearj@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/johnbearwithme
