By Jen Fifield | Arizona Republic
Glendale residents will decide in November whether the city’s elected officials should get a substantial pay increase.
At a special council meeting Friday morning, Glendale City Council voted 4-0, with three council members absent, to add the salary question to the city’s Nov. 5 election ballot.
Mayor Jerry Weiers’ current salary is $48,000, and the council members’ salaries are $34,000. Under the new pay structure to be considered by voters, starting Jan. 1 the mayor’s salary would increase by 42%, to $68,490. The council members’ salary would increase by 55%, to $52,685.
The salaries would be recalculated annually, using the median salary for city employees as the starting point. The mayor’s salary would be set at 30% more than the median salary, and the council’s salary would be 1% less than the median. This fiscal year, the employees’ median salary is $53,217.
A city committee recommended the increases, pointing out that it had been since 2006 since the elected officials got raises.
“We strongly believe this is an equitable and fair recommendation,” Diane McCarthy, commission chairwoman, told the council Friday.
The increases would put the salaries of Glendale’s elected officials near the top compared with other large cities in metro Phoenix. Salaries now are closer to the middle.
