Homeless in Arizona

The good news is the other members of the Mesa city council voted against the pay raise.

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Mesa council rejects pay hike for mayor, members

By Gary Nelson The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:28 AM

The Mesa City Council decided in a 4-3 vote Monday night not to accept significant pay raises proposed by a citizens commission.

Although the Mesa Chamber of Commerce and public-safety unions supported the pay hikes, the narrow council majority balked at a pay raise when many people are still struggling financially and when the national financial picture is gravely uncertain.

Voting for the ill-fated measure were Mayor Scott Smith and council members David Richins and Dennis Kavanaugh.

The proposal landed on the council dais after months of jockeying that began when the Mesa chamber said the city’s elected officials are underpaid.

The chamber proposed major pay raises that would be tied to new language in the city charter enhancing the written expectations for the mayor and council members.

The council determined, however, that a charter election was not needed. Instead, it established a citizens commission to study the pay issue.

This fall the panel recommended that the council’s pay be raised to $35,200 and the mayor’s, to $73,300. Current salaries are $19,000 and $38,000, respectively.

The council was legally obliged to accept the pay commission’s report, or reject it, in its entirety. The raises would have been effective in January, when four current council members begin their new terms.

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Split vote shoots down raises for Mesa mayor, council members

Posted: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 4:11 pm

By Daniel Quigley, Tribune

It has been 14 years since the Mesa mayor and City Council have received pay raises.

After 45 years of the city charter and just two raises during that time, in the nation’s 38th-largest city, council members earn about $19,000 per year, and the mayor, about $38,600 — their salaries set in 1998, plus cost-of-living adjustments.

On Monday, the City Council considered whether to accept a commission’s Nov. 8 recommendation to nearly double the salaries of each office, sending the council members’ salaries to $35,209 and the mayor’s to $70,304. The city charter requires the council to decide its own pay.

When the smoke cleared, the council voted 4-3 against taking the raises.

Mayor Scott Smith, who supported the increase, acknowledged that it was “awkward” to vote for his own pay raise.

“I don’t believe this is a difficult situation — for me, it’s not — but it certainly is an awkward situation,” Smith said.

The council created the Independent Commission on Compensation for Elected Officials in August to research and make a recommendation on potential pay raises. The council’s vote was whether to accept the report which included enacting the recommended raises.

Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh spoke to the Tribune prior to Monday’s meeting, pointing out that the Mesa salaries rank below Arizona cities Peoria, Glendale, Tempe and several other cities nationally that are smaller than Mesa.

“I don’t know of any other job in the public or private sector that’s only had two pay increases over the last 45 years,” Kavanaugh said.

The raises would have made salaries higher than Tempe but still lower than Phoenix.

“People have realized that the city has grown and the job has changed throughout the years ... I look at it as council work is a 24/7 job.”

Kavanaugh, who is a lawyer on top of his council position, said he spends more time on city work.

“Eighty percent of the emails I get during the day is all city related. I can’t get through the grocery store without talking to constituents,” Kavanaugh said.

Supporters said the raises will increase the competition for city offices because too many people cannot afford the low pay.

They pointed out that council members have been running unopposed since 2006.

Supporters also touted the council’s drastic cuts to Mesa’s budget during the economic downturn, and that pay cuts have been restored and raises reinstated.

Bryan Jeffries, president of United Mesa Fire Fighters and a former Phoenix city councilman, said, “Being a part-time council member to close to half-a-million (population) city is just nonsense ... the commitment ... is not part-time,” Jeffries said.

Mesa resident Tom Schuelke said the commission was not independent because it was appointed by the council.

Schuelke also said the recommended increases would attract greedy candidates.

“A large increase in council compensation may result in the wrong kind of people seeking office, people more interested in money than serving the city ... it will discourage competent, civic-minded individuals from seeking to serve.”

Supporters of the raises disputed that they would limit candidates and countered that the raises would open up the fields.

Vice Mayor Scott Somers said that being on the council is about civic pride and civic duty.

He said that he wants to see future councils make more money and agreed it would increase the number of potential candidates, but asked the council to find a way “to implement this in the future so that I’m not voting for my own raise ... I ran knowing that I was only making $18,000 a year.”

Smith challenged there was no way for the council to not decide its own pay because staggered elections mean some council members would have to do so.

Councilwoman Dina Higgins also spoke against the measure, saying that residents of the city are still facing a tough economy with 15,000 in Mesa still out of work and others facing losing their homes.

“I’m receiving $19,000 in salaries, plus an additional $17,000 in (medical and pension) benefits. Together ... this is a fair salary for a part-time job. I would never want to see someone run for office based solely on salary.”

Smith, Kavanaugh and Councilman Dave Richins voted for the raises.

• Contact writer: (480) 898-5647 or dquigley@evtrib.com

Mesa Mayor Scott Smith tries to justify a $42,000 raise for himself

While Mesa Mayor Scott Smith may think he deserves $80,000 for a part time job as mayor of Mesa, I think most of the serfs in Mesa whom he rules over disagree with that.

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Raising pay takes courage

Dec. 16, 2012 08:12 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

"Profiles in Courage" stories, the kind made famous by then-U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy, seldom involve politicians voting on pay raises for themselves. [Does Mayor Scott Smith want us to think he is a JFK hero because he voted to raise his own pay from $38,000 to $80,000???]

So it was no surprise that a majority of the Mesa City Council made the spineless decision to vote down pay raises that clearly will be necessary at some point. Not only was the 4-3 vote cowardly, but it reeked of politics and self-interest by at least some members who appear more interested in the effect on their future political races. [So elected officials Mesa have a God given right to live like royalty? Is that what Mayor Scott Smith is saying??]

A pay raise would be in the public interest. The current salaries of $38,000 for the mayor and $19,000 for council members are outdated for one of America's 40 largest cities.

They limit the pool of applicants and even the professionalism of future office-holders. [That's 100 percent BS!!! Many folks would die for a part time job as mayor that pays $38,000 or a part time job as city councilman that pays $19,000]

Recognizing this, the Mesa Chamber of Commerce pushed for a public vote on possible pay raises. The council stopped short, instead setting up a process for a citizens committee to recommend pay levels. [I suspect Mesa Mayor Scott Smith asked his buddies in the Mesa Chamber of Commerce to push for the raise so it wouldn't look like Mayor Scott Smith was a greedy pimp who want to get a pay raise]

At first, after listening to hours of testimony about the rigors of the job, the panel recommended $80,000 for the mayor and $60,000 for council members. Then, the citizens panel decided to scale back the pay recommendations -- wisely, we think -- to $73,300 for the mayor and $35,000 for council members. These are reasonable numbers for such demanding jobs. [reasonable numbers if your the Mayor who is getting the pay raise. But I think the rest of us taxpayers will disagree about it being reasonable for a part time job]

According to the process, members had to vote to accept or reject the commission's recommendations, with no compromise, at the council's Monday meeting.

Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh, who is about to start his fourth term, has pointed out the job is a year-round obligation with demands that can go round-the-clock. [Jesus, give me a break. It's a part time job. When's the last time you put in over 20 hours a week? If that much???]

Kavanaugh, a veteran of the last pay raise in 1998, recalled the public didn't revolt and urged his colleagues not to be afraid to vote yes.

In an unusual move, Mayor Scott Smith, who usually lets council members speak first, got out front and made an impassioned plea to accept the commission's work. He correctly pointed out the situation was "awkward" but not "difficult" because voting yes was the right thing to do. [Yea, I bet it's awkward to vote to more then double your pay and give yourself a $42,000 raise more then doubling your salary from $38,000 to $80,000]

"I don't think leaders take the group to the edge and then back off," he said. "Leaders follow through. Leaders go the distance. Leaders do what is right." [And Mayor Scott Smith thinks it right that he gets a $42,000 pay raise bumping his pay up from $38,000 to $80,000]

But they didn't.

The contortions of Vice Mayor Scott Somers were particularly troubling. Somers, a potential future mayoral candidate, praised the commission's work, saying its members logically came up with salaries between those in place in Phoenix and Tempe.

The commission's work shouldn't go for naught, he said, while voting to kill its work just the same.

Then, Councilman Alex Finter, who also seemed to say raises were a good idea (while voting against them) offered a compromise in which they'd go into effect in two years. But he didn't have the procedural i's dotted and t's crossed, as staff members wondered how to get a new ordinance finished by year's end.

Nice sentiment, but meaningless, really.

In any case, backers of the pay raise, miffed at the cowardice of the majority, didn't seem much interested.

All in all, this was a shoddy performance.

Then again, "Profiles in Courage" and "pay raise" don't often go together.

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