Would better pay for mayor, council make Fort Worth and Arlington less ‘suburban?’

For the first time in years, Fort Worth and Arlington voters have a wide range of candidates to choose from, fueled by term limits in Arlington and the departure of Mayor Betsy Price in Fort Worth.

But if the cities want to attract diverse candidates in future elections, voters may have to consider amending the cities’ charters to better compensate elected officials, local government experts said.

Arlington ranks last among the 50 largest American cities for compensation for the mayor — $3,000 a year. Council members are paid $2,400. Fort Worth pays significantly more, but still ranks 46th at $29,000 for the mayor, according to data on nationwide mayoral pay from Northern Illinois University.

Fort Worth should seriously consider raising the pay for the council and mayor in the future, Price said during an interview with the Star-Telegram after announcing she wouldn’t seek a historic sixth term. Fort Worth’s rapid growth has placed it among the largest 15 cities in the country, making the job of mayor or city council member more than a full-time position, she said. Price estimated she worked more than 80 hours a week, joking that it felt like she is paid about $1 per hour.

“In a city of nearly 1 million people, the mayor can’t work anywhere else,” Price said. “People have to have a face and a name that they can see is the head of their city, and it’s always going to be the mayor — they’re not going to go to this city manager and see him as the voice of the city, so consequently the mayor’s going to have heavy demands on their time.”

Fort Worth voters rejected increasing the council’s pay to $45,000 in 2016. But Price said she thought a boost in compensation would open the door to a larger number of people who would otherwise not run.

Rarely do people run for office for the money, but low pay creates a barrier for a large number of people, said Emily Farris, a TCU assistant professor who specializes in urban politics. Though the job may appear part-time, the level of responsibility and work for a council person in a city as large as Fort Worth is a full-time commitment. Residents with low incomes, particularly people of color or those with families, are shut out, regardless of how qualified they may be for office, she said.

Farris noted that City Manager David Cooke is paid more than $350,000.

“If we expect that amount of professionalism out of our top level of bureaucrats, and the city council and mayor would argue we need that kind of compensation in order to attract the best people for the position, that logic should also extend the city council and mayor,” she said. “We need to have a livable wage in order to make sure the position attracts the best talent, the most representative group and puts it within the ability of any resident to be able to potentially run.”

Pamela Young, a community organizer in Fort Worth, said the sub-$30,000 pay has prevented several people she knows from running who she believes would be highly qualified to represent their districts. The inability to support a family with a council salary locks out younger, diverse candidates, she said.

“We have a lot of older people, who happen to be retired, and again, a lot of people who are independently wealthy, and oftentimes that means more white people than people of color,” Young said. “That’s a bad thing for Fort Worth because Fort Worth is a predominantly person of color city, so that means we don’t get the representation that we deserve.”

After Dallas voters increased pay to to $60,000 for council members and $80,000 for mayor, more people ran, according to the city’s election history. In the 2013 election, 38 candidates ran across all elections, though four seats did not have contested races. In 2015, the first year of the pay increase, 51 candidates ran, but six races were uncontested.

Fort Worth and Arlington are not alone in low compensation for elected officials. San Antonio, El Paso, Dallas and Austin all rank in the bottom 15 in terms of mayoral salaries, according to Northern Illinois University assistant professor Chris Goodman, who collected data on mayoral pay. That’s likely because most cities, except Houston and Austin, have weak mayors. In cities like Fort Worth, the city manager makes daily decisions while the mayor is the face of the city.

The pay goes hand-in-hand with the number of council seats available. Major cities typically have more council seats than Fort Worth’s nine or Arlington’s eight, making it more likely council members represent diverse groups, Goodman said.

“I’m not as surprised that Fort Worth has a lower mayoral pay given the kind of structure,” he said. “It also looks a little bit more like a suburban government.”

What do Fort Worth mayoral candidates think?

Of the most recognizable candidates for Fort Worth mayor, three said they believe voters had spoken five years ago when raises for the city council and mayor were rejected.

Deborah Peoples, who is retired but remains the chairperson of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, said she was fine with the $29,000 salary for mayor, but thought city council members’ time was worth more than $25,000. That wage makes it difficult for some people to run, she said.

“If you’re really committed to equity, and ensuring everyone’s voice is heard, you have to make it easier to serve,” she said.

Councilman Brian Byrd, physician, owns a small clinic, but sees patients three times a month. He said he’d likely scale that back go once a month or stop seeing patients all together if he becomes mayor.

The current salaries seem to be working, Byrd said, noting the crowded fields for mayor and council districts. Paying for expenses, like traveling the district, can get pricey, he said, but ultimately voters had already decided.

“I could argue either side of it but if push came to shove that’s where I’d come down,” Byrd said.

Councilwoman Ann Zadeh did not return a call for comment.

Half of those running for Fort Worth mayor have full-time jobs.

Mattie Parker, CEO of Cradle to Career, part of Tarrant To and Through, said she would like to continue to support the nonprofit, which focuses on education. That might be hard as mayor, she said, so she likely would pare down her role.

Like Byrd, Parker said she thought the 2016 city charter vote was recent enough that a pay increase likely wasn’t needed.

Mike Haynes, owner and CEO of Haynes Distribution HUB, said he would step down if he became mayor. He said he thought the mayor and council salary should be “a living wage.”

Chris Rector works in asset protection for a local retailer, but wouldn’t specify which. He said he would leave his job if elected and felt comfortable supporting himself with the salary and his military retirement.

Arlington is at the bottom

Arlington officials have not felt the need to push for more compensation above the $200 per month paid to city council members and $250 for mayor. Previous council members have discussed the possibility of raises, and the topic resurfaces during election cycles. However, officials said they view the seats as volunteer roles, and that residents have told them the same.

Even so, many council members consider representing the city of around 400,000 a full-time job. Most members have a job that affords them the flexibility to serve on council, support from family or retirement funds that can sustain them through a two-year term.

“There’s no impetus at all for a person to run for council and mayor for money, and that’s just the philosophy and one that’s been embraced here for a number of years in Arlington,” said Mayor Jeff Williams.

Williams said he spends about 60 hours per week filling his duties as mayor and scaled back his time at his engineering firm, Graham and Associates, to prioritize city work. Council members, he said, spend anywhere from 25 to 60 hours at their posts. Treating council positions as a part-time job is difficult, and the city cannot run with a part-time mayor, he said.

Residents and officials, Williams said, have favored keeping the rates in place in order to attract only those who are committed to the service required for the seats — not the bottom line.

The pitch for raises becomes even more complicated as cities grapple with budgeting woes and financial uncertainty due to the pandemic, said District 7 councilwoman Victoria Farrar-Myers.

“It’s a difficult discussion post-COVID, when you’re dealing with large cities with already tight city budgets,” she said.

Arlington over the past several decades has swelled from a community of a few thousand to one of the largest cities in Texas. With that growth comes more complicated issues to address and more constituents to consult, said Dr. Ignacio Nunez, District 5 councilman and retired physician.

As the city grows, Nunez said, its communities should consider changing how it selects and compensates officials. However, he doubts officials would give up their full-time jobs for a reduced salary, especially if term limits prevent officeholders from serving more than six years.

“At the end of six years, what? Jump back out of politics and go back to their original careers?” Nunez asked. “Not going to happen; not in a community like ours.”

Marvin Sutton, District 3 councilman and retired air traffic controller, said creating more single-member districts could lessen council members’ workload. Each council member representing geographic city regions likely serves more people than the entire population of Mansfield, he said, and they face more pressure from their constituents than at-large council members.

Although Sutton said officials could use additional money, he does not want to send the wrong message to residents or open the city up to corruption issues seen in larger cities such as Dallas.

“More people would run,” he said. “Would they be running for the compensation, running for the prestige or would they be running because they have a commitment to serve and to keep questioning?”