Homeless in Arizona

Wow they are going to TRIPLE the pay rates of the Mesa City Council members and almost TRIPLE the salary of the Mayor!!!

Wow that's not bad. $80,000 for a part time job of mayor and $60,000 for the part time job of being a city council member!!!

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Mesa council pay vote could be risky

By Gary Nelson The Republic | azcentral.com Sun Dec 2, 2012 10:55 PM

Things have been so tranquil in Mesa of late that four City Council members, including the mayor, cruised to re-election this year without opposition.

In fact, nobody has bothered to challenge an incumbent Mesa council member since 2006, suggesting general-public satisfaction with a group that not only steered the city through the recession but has put together a solid economic-development hitting streak.

Now, however, the council faces perhaps the most dicey issue of its tenure.

In a city that remains a hotbed of “tea party” activism, in a national political climate seething with concern over government spending, the council must decide next week whether to nearly double its own pay, effective next month.

The issue is rife with political undertones.

Although only two council members are eligible for re-election, it’s widely believed several could have their eye on higher office.

Mayor Scott Smith is frequently mentioned as a possible Republican candidate for governor in 2014.

He has not dismissed the speculation and would have to resign as mayor should he go that route. That would open the mayor’s seat for a special election that might attract one or more current council members.

A yes vote for a big pay hike would be obvious fodder for attack ads in future election campaigns, no matter how justified such a raise might be.

Pay raises for mayors and city councils have been rare as Valley cities struggled with the recession, in some cases cutting the pay of rank-and-file city workers.

In early 2008, the Peoria City Council gave itself a 5 percent pay raise, but the Peoria council rejected a similar proposal last March. The mayor there makes about $30,000 and council members, $20,000.

A year ago, the Surprise City Council repealed an ordinance that generated automatic pay increases for the mayor and council every two years.

The Mesa pay proposal was not exactly the council’s idea.

The Mesa Chamber of Commerce put the issue into play this year when it began lobbying for a public vote on possible council-pay raises.

The chamber, publicly supportive of what the current council has accomplished, reasoned that low pay could degrade the professionalism of future councils by limiting the pool of people who could afford to serve.

The council determined, however, that a public vote is not necessary: It can raise its own pay any time it wants, by ordinance.

Seeking an objective arbiter of the issue, the council created a citizens committee to recommend pay levels. With that recommendation in hand, the council is legally obliged to vote yes or no at its Dec. 10 meeting, with no changes allowed.

When the panel convened this fall it learned:

The mayor is paid $38,000, and council members $19,000. They get $80 a month for phone expenses and a $150 monthly vehicle allowance.

Since Mesa established its charter in 1967, pay for the mayor and council has been raised only twice, with the exception of cost-of-living raises.

The last pay raise was in 1998.

Of 15 comparable cities in Arizona and around the country, Mesa ranked 12th in compensation for its elected officials.

During a long public hearing in late October, past and present council members described the arduous schedules and financial sacrifices imposed by council service.

Dennis Kavanaugh, whose fourth term begins in January, told the pay commission that the job is a round-the-clock, round-the-year obligation with expectations far exceeding what the public sees in council chambers.

Testimony that night led the commission to unanimously recommend an $80,000 salary for the mayor and $60,000 for council members.

The $80 phone allowance would be unchanged, and the car allowance bumped up to $300 a month.

Within a week, however, some members of the commission were having second thoughts.

At its Nov. 8 meeting, chairwoman Kate Ali’varius said the proposed raises should be reduced.

“I believe it’s appropriate ... to not give a huge increase at this time despite how deserving our mayor and council may be of that increase,” she said.

Two members objected to changing the recommendation. Dan Wollam, who also is president and CEO of Mesa United Way, was the more vocal, suggesting that outside pressure had caused the panel to change its mind.

“Last week has been a difficult week,” Wollam said. “It’s been a very politicized week.”

After a 90-minute meeting, the proposed salaries were reduced to $70,304 a year for the mayor and $35,209 for council members.

The mayor’s car allowance would be $450, and the council’s, $300. The phone allowance remains unchanged.

Wollam resigned from the commission immediately after the meeting, saying in a letter to the city that “the environment in which this commission must do its work is much more highly politicized than I had anticipated.”

With the Dec. 10 vote approaching, the council already has received a warning shot from one of Mesa’s more visible City Hall gadflies.

Tom Schuelke, who appears frequently at council meetings to oppose various spending proposals, sent an e-mail to council members warning them not to vote for the raise or at least to defer its effective date for two years.

“Citizens will complain about the way this has been handled for years,” Schuelke told The Arizona Republic.

Kavanaugh, the council’s most outspoken advocate of a raise, told The Republic that if some members are queasy about taking the money, they can always return it to the city.

“Why hurt other members of the council or future council and mayor candidates?” he said.

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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