Marysville City Council is poised to increase the salary for its members.
At Monday night’s meeting, council heard a second reading of an ordinance to set compensation for council members. The legislation sets council salary at $7,920, beginning in 2020. The legislation also said council would look at an additional 2% increase in 2021 that would set council salary at $8,078.40
Currently, Marysville City Council members make $7,200 per year. To receive full credit for the year of service, the Ohio Public Service Retirement System requires a minimum salary of $660 per month or $7,920 annually.
At a work session earlier this month, council member Mark Reams said he wanted to address council pay. He explained that the city charter limits when and how council pay can be addressed. Council heard a first reading of legislation but agreed that rather than rush through the legislation, the finance committee should explore options.
Reams said the matter received “quite a bit” of discussion by the committee. At the previous council meeting, council members were split on if and how much of a raise council should receive. Members discussed the option of mirroring staff raises.
“We looked at what has happened across the city in the four years since we last had any adjustment and we looked at what raise had been given to city employees,” said Reams, who sits on the finance committee.
He said city employees got 10% in raises over the last four years.
“We basically made some slight adjustments to the legislation and referenced that,” Reams said.
He added that the finance committee recommended council review compensation before May 1, every two years.
Council member Deborah Groat said she “respectfully” disagreed with the 10% figure.
“If this council ever receives anything beyond what any employee of the city receives, we are doing ourselves a disservice and we are doing the people of Marysville a disservice,” Groat said. “I reject the 10% number. I think it is artificial.”
She said 10% is “totally out of line with anything I would vote for.”
Additionally, Groat explained council is prohibited from directly tying its salary increases to increases for staff members.
Taylor added that in discussions with City Law Director Tim Aslaner, it became clear the council would need to address both years in the legislation.
He suggested noting in the legislation that council can review a 2% raise next year.
“There is nothing to say that council can’t come back and say, ‘It’s not going as good as we thought for the city, you are not going to get the 2%,” Taylor said. “I think you will have seven people sitting up here that will realize it just as fast as the citizens of Marysville do.”
Taylor said he was initially very negative toward the idea of a council raise, but has since softened on the idea.
“In reviewing, in sitting back, if I am not the person sitting here for Ward 4, it shouldn’t be the new person to have to fight for it, it should be the people that’s in-house,” Taylor said. “And running away from it and not using it as a proper piece of legislation is not the right thing to do either.”
Council will hear a third reading of the legislation at the July 1 work session. The legislation must be passed 30 days in advance of the Aug. 6 filing deadline for candidates seeking to run for council seats.
Reams first mentioned the idea of increasing council salary at the June 3 work session. He recommended adjusting council pay on a regular basis to avoid irregular and substantial pay increases.
At that meeting, council asked City Human Resources Director Brian Dostanko to look at other council salaries and report back.
In the report, Dostanko compared several communities in the Mid-Ohio region. Additionally, he compared several other similar cities around the state. In the region, salaries average about $15,000. Officials acknowledge that the city of Columbus council salary of more than $57,000 skews that number.
Dostanko said the list of comparable cities probably more accurately reflects what appropriate salaries should be. He said that comparing cities like Ashland, Hudson, Lebanon, Miamisburg, Oxford, Perrysburg, Pickerington, Piqua, Troy and Xenia, shows the comparable cities at $8,325.