The Fairhope City Council is expected to vote Monday whether to maintain existing salaries of the mayor and council members or to increase them.
The municipalities where increases in salaries will become effective (and the amounts) in November 2008 are:
- Bay Minette: mayor, $30,000 plus $500 vehicle allowance; council members, $6,000.
- Gulf Shores: mayor, $42,000; mayor pro-tem, $15,000; council members, $12,500.
- Robertsdale: mayor, $23,520; mayor pro-tem, $11,520; council members, $6,300.
Municipalities where increases to current salaries are being considered are:
- Fairhope: mayor, $16,800; council president, $6,600; council members, 6,000.
- Loxley: mayor, $10,200; council members, $4,800.
- Orange Beach, $25,000 plus 5 percent cost of living increase (COLA); council president, $15,000 plus 5 percent COLA; council members, $10,000 plus 5 percent COLA.
- Spanish Fort: mayor, $18,000; council members, $6,000.
- Summerdale: mayor, $15,000; council members, $2,400. (The report stated an increase to $6,000 for council members was being considered.)
Municipalities not considering increases at this time are:
- Daphne: mayor, $60,000 plus $6,000 vehicle allowance; council president, $9,600; vice president, $7,800; council members, $7,200.
- Elberta: mayor, $4,800; council members, $2,400.
- Foley: mayor, $21,000; mayor pro-tem, $8,200; council members, $7,200.
- Silverhill: $6,000; council members, $2,400.
Salary hike decision expected Monday
If a mayor’s salary is so low and time on the clock is so high, only independently wealthy people can afford to run for the office. The salary should be set at a fair rate linked to the amount of time the person must spend on the job.
In other words, if I wanted to quit my job and run for mayor of Fairhope I should get paid enough to feed my family. Or I should at least make enough money to afford a double-date with Lodmell and his escort every once in a while.
2 comments ↓
I remember when daphne changed the mayor’s benefits to that of a full time job, which is what it is, hence the $60,000. However, don’t let the compensation for Fairhope’s mayor mislead you. There are other benefits besides those of base salary. For quite some time now the mayor of Fairhope has been paid for being director of utilities (to the tune of about $70,000/year) so at $86,800/year I’m sure he can support his family.
The size of the job depends on the size of the town. Fairhope now needs to pay councilmembers at least minimum wage($12,000) so some new working class folks can afford to run for office–not just business types with flex. schedules. We need to separate Mayor from utilities administrator for the same reason: shouln’t need a business degree to run for Mayor. Also, paying them a living wage is a guard against corruption.
Leave a Comment