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Home My WebLink About10E - Mayor & Council Salaries 16200 Eagle Creek Avenue S.E. Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT MEETING DATE: AGENDA #: PREPARED BY: June 20, 2005 ~ 10 E Frank Boyles, City Manag~ AGENDA ITEM: CONSIDER APPROVAL OF A ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 105.300 OF THE PRIOR LAKE CITY CODE RELATING TO SALARIES OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSION: H istorv As part-time employees of the City, the Mayor and City Council members receive monthly salaries together with per diem payments based upon meeting attendance. These payments are intended to reimburse the Mayor and City Council members for expenses they incur in the day-to-day responsibilities of their office. Current Circumstances The City Council's Compensation Committee consisting of Council members LeMair and Petersen have reviewed the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities salary survey for cities of 10-20,000, 20,000 - 25,000 and 20,000 - 30,000. Prior Lake's population is currently estimated to be between 21,500 and 23, 500. Shown below are the monthly salaries identified in the survey: Average Survey Data Population Mayor Council member (per month) (per month) Cities 15,000 - 20,000 $596 $480 Cities 20,000 - 25,000 $714 $531 Cities 20,000 - 30,000 $721 $546 By contrast, the actual 2005 Mayor and Council salaries are: $525 for the Mayor and $425 for Council members. Conclusion The Compensation Committee recommends that wages be adjusted as follows for 2006,2007 and 2008: 2006 2007 2008 Mayor (per month) $645 $675 $710 Council member (per month) $520 $545 $570 They also recommend that the per diem be adjusted from $40 to $50 per meeting. Each of the above adjustments is incorporated into the attached ordinance amendment. www.cityofpriorlake.com l:\COU!\jCiL\/\GNRFTS\2006;Cl(}20 saL+<p~6~~\95;~rc447:14~~8C/ Fax 952.447.4245 ISSUES: Any salary adjustment will not be effective until January 1, 2006. The Mayor and members of the City Council spend considerable time each day accomplishing City business. A typical week, for example, will include daily phone calls and e- mails from the Staff, constituents, City Attorney or other Council members. Some of the correspondence can be very long and detailed such as legislative bulletins or litigation materials. In addition to attending each Council meeting, the Council member must read the agenda. Weekly, an Update memo is sent which is often 25-30 pages in length to help them stay informed regarding City activities. For Council-meeting Monday's they receive the Council agenda packet which is 50 - 150 pages, along with a work session agenda and packet. In addition to reading this material, Council often visits sites and speak with affected parties regarding agenda items. Each of these responsibilities competes with the business and personal responsibilities of Council members. The Compensation Committee believes these adjustments are appropriate. The recommendation for an escalating rate over the next three years is intended to prevent what has occurred since the current salaries were established until now where the salaries are far below the averages of other communities. FINANCIAL IMPACT: Funds for this purpose would be programmed in the 2006 budget. ALTERNATIVES: 1. Adopt the attached Ordinance modifying Mayor and City Council salaries effective January 1, 2006. 2. Take no action. RECOMMENDED Alternative 1. MOTION: j:\COUNClL\!"J3NRPTs\2005\0620 salaries SUBSECTIONS: 105.100: 105.200: 105.300: CITY ELECTIONS, OFFICERS AND TERMS OF OFFICE COUNCIL MEETINGS SALARIES 105.100: CITY ELECTIONS, OFFICERS AND TERMS OF OFFICE: The City Council shall consist of a Mayor and four (4) Councilmembers all of whom shall be residents of the City and should otherwise be qualified to hold public office pursuant to the laws of the State. Term of Office: The term of Mayor of the City shall be four (4) years commencing with the January 1, 1986 term of office. Except as hereinafter provided, Councilmembers shall be elected for four (4) year terms of office with two (2) Councilmembers being elected at each election. 105.200: COUNCIL MEETINGS: 105.201 Time and Place of Reaular Meetinas: There will be at least two (2) regular Council meetings monthly in the City Hall. The City Council, by resolution, may schedule additional regular meetings or may cancel regularly scheduled meetings by majority of the Council vote. The regular scheduled meetings shall be held on the first and third Mondays of each month commencing at seven ~ o'clock (7:00) (~) p.m., or such other times and dates as the Council may from time to time by resolution designate. When a regular meeting falls on the same day as that of an official holiday, the regular meeting shall automatically be postponed to the following day, or may be cancelled by rosolution of ::1 majority vote of the Councilmembers. 105.202 Procedural Reauirements of the Reaular Meetinas: (1) Regular Business Session: A regular business session shall be conducted at each meeting of the City Council. (2) Prepare Agenda: The Agenda for each regular meeting will be prepared by the City Manager and shall be available the Friday before the following meeting. 105.203 Soecial Meetinas: Special meetings may be called by the Mayor or any two (2) members of the City Council by writing, filed with the City Manager who shall then mail a notice to all the members of the time and place of meeting at least one day before the meeting. 105.204 105.300 : 105.301 105.302 105.303 105.304 105.305 Meetinas Open to the Public: All said meetings should be open to the public. SALARIES: The Mayor's salary and is horoby ostablishod 3t four hundrod sovonty fi'le dollars ($475.00) por month. the salary of each City Councilmember is hereby established at the followina monthlv rate: thrQQ hLJndrog ~ovonty five) doll~r~ ($375.00) por month. Tho M3yor's 3nd CouncilmomborE' E313rioE Eh311 be rO'/io'Nod by tho City Council OVQry 1\\'0 (2) years on even Y03rE at the timo thE) City budgot iE considorod by tho COl::Jncil. 2006 2007 2008 Mavor $645 $675 $710 Council member $520 $545 $570 This subsection shall take effect on January 1 st of the Y03r noxt EuccQoding tho City wido olection. This provision shall be eff.ectivo J:muary 1, 2002 2006. (amd. Ord. 00-03 - pub. 1/8/00). Per Diem: In addition to the salaries set forth in Section 105.300, Councilmember (for the purposes of this subsection, Councilmember includes Mayor) may be eligible for a per diem remuneration. Policv: The City Council deems it appropriate and prudent to remunerate City Councilmembers for participation in certain meetings. Such remuneration encourages Councilmembers to become more informed regarding constituent issues and better representatives of the City. Per Diem Rate: For each eligible meeting attended, a Councilmember will receive $4Q 50 to remunerate time spent and out-of-pocket expenses. Per Diem Reauests: A Councilmember requesting per diem remuneration for attending a qualifying per diem meeting shall do so on forms prescribed therefore. The request to the Finance Department shall indicate the number of meetings for which remuneration is requested, the date, time and organization conducting the meeting and the Councilmembers' role at the meeting. Qualifvina Per Diem Meetinas: The Finance Department shall approve per diem remuneration only for meetings which meet the criteria set forth below: (1) Subcommittees of the City Council to which a Councilmember has been appointed. (Examples include Special Assessment Committee, Annexation Task Force) (2) Meetings of City Advisory Committees to which the Councilmember is the liaison. (Examples: Planning Commission, Parks Advisory Committee, Lake Advisory Committee, Business Advisory Council) (3) Meetings of bodies to which a Councilmember has been appointed the City Council's representative. (Examples: Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed Commission, Orderly Annexation Board, MVTA) (4) Policy committee meetings or annual meetings or conferences of the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities, League of Minnesota Cities or National League of Cities. (amd. Ord. 01-08 - pub. 8/20/01 and effective 1/1/02) (5) Meetinas at which the Councilmember is actina as the representative of the City Council. (This Space Intentionally Blank For Future Amendments) L\CODE\sectionl 06.,...2005. (Joe .. -~---'I""'''---'-"-'-'-'--'''''''-'''.'-''--''.''--'''''' ,. ... .'----...-.,-"----..---'--"---.. Mayors' paydays bow to politics POLITICS resources minnesota re$Ol.lrceS find.yol.I.rJocal officials key votes in congress capitol hill basics federal legislation n.atiQnlwQdd W'i!Jf.Jn"ir'i!Jq Wc:tIon terror health/science technology news graphics photographs n::u~trQLr]~glQn north south west faith & values education police/court neW$ Ot:>itlJ~ries Page 1 of3 Lc Ret news freetime travel shopping cars homes jobs metro/region nation/world politics business sports variety opinion fun talk c1assifieds Last update: June 11, 2005 at 11 :55 PM Mayors' paydays bow to politics David Peterson, Star Tribune June 12, 2005 PAY0612 Jim Hovland became mayor of Edina last winter at a time of tumult and change. Overflow traffic from clogged freeways is driving his constituents crazy. Both of his prosperous city's signature commercial districts face radical overhauls. Council meetings have been running late into the night. His pay for all those troubles? About what a Caribou coffee server at Southdale can take home in tips. Hovland professes not to mind. But he admits he has heard gently barbed comments from his counterparts in other cities, afraid they'd look bad if they paid themselves too much more than mayors earn in Edina and other equally frugal suburbs. "Someone said, 'You guys are engaging in reverse snobbery,' " Hovland said. In an ideal world, said Tom Gamec, the mayor of Ramsey, he'd get $50,000, given the workload involved in leading the fast-growing Anoka County community. But in the real world of Minnesota politics, he and his colleagues didn't dare go for even the $10,000 they felt entitled to earn: "It just would look really bad. " His recent raise, Gamec said, "probably took me from a nickel an hour to a dime." The mayor's paycheck City councils base their pay on what their counterparts in other cities earn. No one likes to be No.1, soparsimonious paychecks are a drag on other communities. And that is causing tension. Edina, Eden Prairie, Woodbury and a host of other upscale suburbs lead http://www.startribune.com/stories/587 /5452345 .html ---......,.-- ._~.- -,...., ..'.... , ....' ..--r-.---.". assv Related cc ~ Elected 0' salaries ~ Minne$Qti of Cities ~ More politi news ~ Cheneyc HQwc:tro.[ the top' ~ GQPudl.lrT Eiben$teil Shorevie\ businessr ~ HQPe$Jol deal rise. and fall ~GQYernQr campaign may face ~C~pitQIR' The best the wurst Story tooh I)J Email this @ PrtntthJ$.. ~ Make us , hornepag Search [s~~r~h J More options ITopJ Mechanicc l::ngin??I - Industries AdministI;:J $LJppo[t - 1 Carpenter: Haugdahl ( Human R~~Q!JI~~ Executive 6/14/2005 Mayors' paydays bow to politics the way with small-scale salaries. Gamec said he hears from colleagues in other cities in the north metro who are seriously considering breaking out of the pack and paying themselves a little bit closer to what they think their time is worth. "There are cities 35,000 and up that are looking at salaries of up to $20,000," he said. That's more than a city twice that size would pay today. Paying too little, said Tom Ryan, a truck driver who serves as mayor of Blaine, creates the conditions for corruption. "Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people I know are straight as an arrow. But there temptations. People offer to 'help' me. I say, 'No thank you.' "They say, 'Tom, no strings.' But there are always strings." All the mayors agree that they took the job voluntarily -- heck, they campaigned for it. And they say they enjoy it. "It's a terrific job," Ryan said. "There isn't much in this city I haven't touched. There's a lot of pride in that." They also repeat, almost to a person, that it isn't about the money. "For me personally, I was kind of surprised we got paid," said Edina's Hovland. "It seemed like volunteer work that you got elected to." And yet most are keenly conscious of the amount on their paychecks. Although Eden Prairie's mayor and council are among the lowest paid in the metro per capita, Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens said it does bother her when it dips too low, as she said it did before a sizable raise this past winter. "No one for many years had the political guts to change it. So it went from bad to worse to really ridiculous," she said. "There's something to be said for placing a value on what you're doing with your time." Cities in the" golden crescent" of upscale demographics in the southwest metro tend to pay their elected officials very little per resident. The top paychecks per capita tend to be issued in the more stressed inner-ring communities such as Columbia Heights and Robbinsdale. "Probably people don't feel the people doing the job [in more affluent places] need the extra money," said TYfa-Lukens. Pay tends to be based on a community's size. City officials keep track through detailed annual surveys conducted by state and metro associations of cities, which break the numbers down by city size. But not everyone agrees that city size is a valid measure for pay. Some say it can even be deceptive. "In some respects you might find that city council members in smaller cities spend more time on city business because there isn't as much staff," said Bruce Nawrocki, a council member in Columbia Heights. http://www.startribune.comlstories/5 87/5452345 .html -~l '" ~ -,-- -..--...--, - .... ..m....._.. '0" Page 2 of3 Assistant - HLJJTlC:lIJRe Training Coordinate Scientific Maintenan School Welder I Fabricator Machine In( PrincipC:l1 - I Public Scho Financial - Healthcare TechnologiE Printing - V" Graphic Inc Customer: Invisible Fel MN Retail: JeVll Sales - Scheherazc; Jewelers Qf:fi.~~___M.C:ln Insulation 0 Pharmacis Neighborca Technician Smith Noltir Human Re Eastside Neighborho Commercil Constructi< p'rQlfjGt--', Superintew Schafer Ric Inc Ml:liling::-P print"Speci Action Maili Sales - BR INTO MED $AL~!;S--~-pi Corporation View All To Browse mo Classifieds .!:::tomes Rentals Shopping PIC:lceanac 6/14/2005 Mayors' paydays bow to politics He was bounced from the mayor's seat in the late 1980s partly over issues of high and rising pay. And he says there hasn't been any talk for years now of trying again to raise that pay. That is not to say, though, that voters won't put up with pay increases, even at a time of tight budgets. City councils have to make the decision before elections, and officials only collect the raise if they win, yet it's not always a political issue. "We did it openly," Gamec said of his latest raise, "and our election was not probably the nicest in the world for me. I took a lot of shots, yet pay was never brought up -- which really, to be really truthful, surprised the daylights out of me. I was looking at almost doubling my salary." David Peterson is at dtJPJ~t~r$Qll@$tartri!JJ111J:.c;Qm. (.~ ~e# ,"" ,~~>> :'::~ ,Tt ~ ,~ ;.'J!'ji) ,~,"[);~TE'\~ilHJ DESTINY! " fl~(,~ hr:!~ fo~ 'lOut h (fR1 ,w:;. ,fp ,~~ 7 O.ily fREE Tn;}l' .,;.; ~ ~ c if d!(~J!.Y!.t. to U'9J5tN to Wlh' f0 ~) J:~ ~ :':~ X .f:'0Y ov= RetufntQ..tQP StarTribune Coovriaht 2005 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. f~~gl::l~GI< I t~rm$nQtl,l~e I PJiV~GYPQJiCY I m~mb~rn<:;el}ter I CQmp~[IYn~it~ I CQmp~[IYngir~ctQryn&uCQl}t~ct$ comoanv iobs I advertising information I newsoaoer subscriotions & service I eEdition I classroom newsoaoers 425 Portland Av. S., Minneapolis. MN 55488 ~ 1(612) 673-4000 http://www.startribune.com/stories/5 87/5452345 .html -,---,--_,. .. ----1- -~ ....'uu.. -_.. ......~,_..__..,-~,_..--,_.... ~_. _....""..,_u....__ --- "'- Page 3 of3 6/14/2005