Submitted by James Master Managing Editor of the Pilot News
During Monday night’s meeting of the Plymouth Common Council, the second and third readings of an ordinance adjusting the salaries of elected officials.
Ordinance 2021-2183 had been approved on first reading at the Aug. 23 meeting. The ordinance increases the mayor’s salary by 7.5%, the clerk-treasurer’s salary by 4.5%, and the salary for the members of the Common Council by 3%.
In terms of dollar amounts, the mayor salary would total $67,592.88, the clerk-treasurer salary would be $68,220.72, and the Common Council members would receive $9,222.48 annually.
Council Member Jeff Houin noted that the salaries for mayor and clerk-treasurer showed a greater increase than what was approved for other city employees.
“I knew that part of the reason for the increase for the mayor is that many years ago before I was on the council, that there was a year when salaries were frozen except for the clerk-treasurer and that created a discrepancy and it has only widened over time because of the percentage increases,” said Houin.
Houin went on to say that city employees were given a mid-year increase in pay due to not given an increase at the start of 2021. “We can’t do that for elected officials by law…so the additional percentage for the clerk-treasurer also is intended to include that increase for 2021 and increase for 2022.”
Not all council members were in favor of the increase in salaries.
“I would really like to see us not do a pay increase for elected officials,” said Council Member Greg Compton. He cited the pandemic not being over and the possibility of other unexpected things that could happen. He stated that he approved of the mid-year raise for city employees due to the current job market. “We’re elected officials to serve the public…every time we have elections we have people lining up to run for office so it’s not a situation where we’re going to lose or have less qualified individuals to fill.”
Compton clarified that he wasn’t opposed to increasing the salary of elected officials, but it was his opinion that it wasn’t the appropriate time.
“I think it’s just bad timing,” he said.
The Council approved both the second and the third reading of the ordinance that night. Each vote resulted in a 6-1 vote for each reading. Compton voted not in favor each time.
