Salaries for Des Moines mayor, council members could hike 21% by 2024

Des Moines' mayor and City Council members could see a 21% salary increase come 2024.

In the first pay hike since 2020, Mayor Frank Cownie could earn $70,000 per year, up from his current $57,760 salary. Council members' annual income could rise to $35,000 from $28,880.

They also could get a $100 per-week allowance — up from $75 — to spend on expenses incurred doing city business such as cell phone bills, transportation and conferences.

An ordinance to consider the new salaries is up for a first vote at Monday's City Council meeting. It would need two additional approvals to pass.

The raise adds an additional annual expense of $58,060 to the city's budget, which will come from its $208 million general fund, according to Des Moines spokesperson Al Setka.

City manager Scott Sanders said pay hikes are important because even though the elected officials' jobs are technically part-time, they often put in 40 hours a week or more.

"We want to have fair compensation and fair reimbursements for costs that come along with that," Sanders said.

Higher salaries also exist to attract potential candidates, he said. Otherwise, voters may be "stuck with either retirees or independent business owners that have extra time and that's not the only subsets that we want to recruit potential council members from," Sanders said.

Setka said the pay hike also will absorb an increase that council members are asked to pay monthly for health care coverage, which will go up to 15% from 10%.

The new pay rates would go into effect in January 2024, following the November election. State law stipulates that changes in city council compensation can go into effect only after the end of the term in which the raises were approved. That means raising both the mayor’s and City Council’s pay simultaneously can only happen every four years.

As a guideline, Sanders said the mayor's salary is tied to half of the Polk County Board of Supervisors', while the council members' salary is tied to half of the mayor's. The supervisors are considered full-time, and they voted this year to increase their pay to $135,423 from $130,214.

The last pay raise approved by the council went into effect in 2020. Council members and the mayor each got an 11% raise.

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Salaries for Des Moines mayor, council members could raise 21% by 2024