Local opinion: City officials' salaries should rise, but Prop. 413 goes too far

Mayor and city council salaries are set by a process outlined in the City Charter. Every two years the city manager appoints a seven-member commission. That group arrives at a recommendation for salary adjustments that is placed on the ballot for voter approval. The mayor and council may not alter what the commission recommends.

The County Board of Supervisors’ salaries are established and changed by state statute. The County is an arm of the state and Arizona Revised Statute 11-419 specifies salaries for a variety of county officials. Those include tax assessors, recorders, sheriffs, school superintendents and more. Since state law governs county official salaries, voters never vote to approve or deny salary increases for that group.

The distinction between city and county salaries is important to keep in mind. The proposal by the current salary commission is to change the manner in which city council and mayoral salaries are changed, now and going forward. Instead of voters approving changes, mayor and council salaries would be automatically tied to whatever the supervisors are scheduled to receive by statute. Unless the voters explicitly reject any such increase, mayor and council salaries would match those of the supervisors.

While arguments have been offered in support of the pay raises, none of the opinion pieces or written mailers I’ve seen actually share with you what the actual proposed salaries will be. Even the language on the ballot fails to tell you what level of salary is being proposed. That level of transparency is a necessary part of educating the public, and of advocating for or against a ballot measure. Here’s what’s being proposed and how it will change over time.

If Proposition 413 is adopted by the voters the mayor’s salary will increase to $95,750 and the city council members’ salaries will increase to $76,600 on December 4th of this year. The city charter would be amended through the vote such that future salary adjustments would be governed by ARS 11-419. That statute has already programmed in another pay increase for January 1st, 2025. At that time the mayor’s salary would be increased to $120,750 and city council members would increase to $96,600.

Unless the citizen commission later that year recommended the voters reject those increases, they’d go into effect in December 2025.

I’ve served on the city council since 2009. In each of the bi-annual elections where a salary increase was proposed I’ve voted in favor. And in each of those cases the salary being proposed was much more modest than what’s on this year’s ballot. Very simply, amending our city charter and tying mayor and council salaries to a state statute that effectively eliminates voter involvement for approving or rejecting is problematic. And we should not be tripling council salaries and more than doubling the mayor’s salary at a time when people are struggling to make ends meet.

Public service should not require people working in our positions to take an oath of poverty.

Certainly the level of decisions for which we’re responsible justify salaries higher than $24,000 for council and $42,000 for the mayor. And yet amending our charter-driven process, taking the decisions out of the hands of the voters and giving a threefold increase is simply a bridge too far. With all the best of intentions the commission has recognized that we are underpaid. But the proposed increase sends the message that we are out of touch with the struggles of our constituents.

Bring back a more modest proposal for the 2025 election and you’ll once again have my support. These positions are not intended to be career paths. Let’s try this again with recommendations that make sense, and that leave the final decision in the hands of the local electorate.