An ordinance that gives city council a two percent yearly raise will be expiring soon, but Athens City Council members aren’t planning on giving up their yearly pay increase.
At Monday night’s meeting, council discussed the feasibility of continuing to increase the wages paid to City Council members.
During the meeting, councilman Jeff Risner, D-2nd Ward, noted that any proposed raises would have to wait until the next council session, which begins in 2019.
Risner said a previous ordinance gives council a two percent raise every year, but the ordinance expires in 2019. For the whole year of 2016, council will make $7,764.
“By state law, we cannot pass a pay raise for council when we are actually in that session, so it has to be done for a future council,” Risner said.
Councilman Kent Butler, D-1st Ward, said council members reduced their raises to assist the city in dealing with the Great Recession eight years ago.
“During the financial crisis era in 2008 and 2009, City Council was very cognizant of the challenges that the city was facing financially, and made efforts at the time to not further compensate council,” Butler said.
City Auditor Kathy Hecht said regardless of council’s decision regarding their salaries, it would not greatly affect the city,
“These salaries are certainly not a large portion of our general fund,” Hecht said. “There would be no financial hardship if you decided to do something with your salaries in the next couple of years.”
