Mayor Lyles, City Council slated to keep hefty salary increases. Here’s why.
Charlotte City Council members on Wednesday defended their significant salary hikes in the coming fiscal year — despite an unsuccessful push from two Republicans to scrap the controversial proposal.
The pay raises — first reported by The Observer in early May — are long overdue and could eliminate barriers to seeking public office, some Council members said during deliberations on the $2.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2022.
But Tariq Bokhari and Ed Driggs, the only Republicans on the City Council, urged their colleagues to eliminate the raises.
Bokhari said this is the wrong time for Council to contemplate changing their pay structure, arguing that elected officials must make sacrifices and not pave the groundwork to enable career politicians.
He and Driggs voted to ditch the plan, while all Democrats voted to preserve the raises in the budget.
“I am as adamantly opposed to this in all forms as you can possibly imagine,” Bokhari said during the meeting. Shortly afterward, on Twitter, Bokhari said the raises are “tone deaf to what’s going on in our back yard right now.”
“While this Council just overwhelmingly voted to do it, I bet the community will have more to say,” Bokhari wrote.
The recommended pay raises were developed by the Citizen Advisory Committee on Governance, which Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Mayor Pro Tem Julie Eiselt had tasked with evaluating major changes to the City Council’s operating structure.
Eiselt on Wednesday said not all sacrifices are financial. Some deal with public safety threats or missed family obligations among Council members, she said.
“I don’t know that the pay we get right now really justifies those other forms of sacrifice,” Eiselt said, adding she can’t recall the last time Council members got a raise.
Mayor, City Council raises
City Manager Marcus Jones did not delve into the raises for the mayor and Council as he presented his proposed budget earlier this month — though he discussed changes for other city employees and first responders.
The changes are mentioned in the manager’s written summary but not detailed until near the back of the 422-page budget book. Lyles’ salary would increase by 41.5% and her total compensation, including benefits, would rise by 30.4%. That would bring her salary to $39,646 and total compensation to $59,868.
Meanwhile, City Council members could see both their salary and total compensation grow by about 50% — to $32,638 and $52,444, respectively, according to the proposed budget book.
Council member Malcolm Graham said the “foundational” change was long overdue.
“We have done (this) the right way by forming the citizens committee to do the due diligence,” Graham said Wednesday.
The advisory committee had unanimously agreed that compensation for the mayor and City Council members should increase and reach a comparable level to the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners.
Across 20 peer cities, Lyles was the third lowest paid mayor, the committee found last year. Council members were paid less than their counterparts in 13 peer cities.
Council member Greg Phipps, who filled a vacant seat from James “Smuggie” Mitchell, said his predecessor would also agree with the raises.
“I see no compelling reason not to support the kind of salaries that are proposed,” Phipps said.
The fiscal year 2022 isn’t finalized just yet. Council members will cast straw votes on potential changes next week, ahead of the budget’s adoption on June 14.
