Members of the Logan City Council work-shopped a nearly 11 percent pay hike for city elected officials at their meeting on Tuesday, June 7.
LOGAN – Members of the Logan City Council work-shopped a proposed pay raise with few questions and a minimum of fuss Tuesday evening.
That means that council members will likely vote on a pay raise of more than $10,000 for Mayor Holly Daines and a pay hike of more than $1,500 for themselves at their next meeting.
Ambrie Darley, the city’s human resources director, said compensation for Logan elected officials lags behind that of other similar municipalities because the local council refused to approve pay hikes for a decade after the nationwide economic collapse in 2008.
She recommended a nearly 11 percent hike for Daines and city council members Jeannie F. Simmonds, Ernesto López, Mark A. Anderson, Amy Z. Anderson and Thomas C. Jensen as a step toward correcting that issue.
According to proposed Ordinance 22-19, the mayor’s compensation will jump from $102,452 approved last June to $113,721, plus a $6,000 car allowance.
The same document set council members’ compensation at $17,842, plus a $300 car allowance, up from $16,074 approved last year.
Darley explained that, in the past year, she had taken part in a compensation study that the city of Ogden conducted for its mayor and council members. Participants in that market study included Logan, Murray, St. George, West Jordan and four other cities.
“The average salary for city council members was $22,300,” she explained. “So, with our salaries coming up to $17,842, we’re still below the average salaries for those cities.”
The average wage for mayors in those cities is $116,900, according to Darley. But those cities also have full-time city managers, while Logan relies heavily on the mayor to handle administrative duties.
The average salary for those city managers was $179,300.
“A lot of council members and mayor are motivated by public service rather than compensation,” Darley acknowledged. “But, down the road if we’re looking for qualified candidates, we do need to get these wages up in order to be attractive to people running for these positions.”
“Just in order to catch up (with salaries), that’s fine,” Daines said. “But I would choose to donate this salary increase back to the city for a project.”
Barring some unexpected change, City Ordinance 22-19 will be approved at the City Council next meeting on Tuesday, June 21.
That pay raise will then take effect on July 1.