Toledo mayor, council salary proposals to be discussed at next council meeting

4/23/2013

A proposed increase in the mayor of Toledo's salary, as well as salary increase proposals for Toledo City Council members, will go on the next council agenda.

During a committee-of-the-whole meeting today, council president Paula Hicks-Hudson said recommendations from The Salary Review and Recommendation Commission will be put on the upcoming agenda on April 30.

The Salary Review and Recommendation Commission determined that the mayor's annual salary should be increased from $122,400 to $136,000. The commission also determined that the annual salary of a member of council should increase from $27,500 to $32,500.

The mayor’s salary was reduced from $136,000 to $122,400 four years ago when Democrat Carty Finkbeiner was mayor, and the reduced salary was paid to the current mayor, independent Michael Bell.

Commission member Mary Karazim, also of the League of Women Voters, said the commission members analyzed council and mayor salaries in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, Dayton and Fort Wayne, Ind. She said the average salary increase in those locations for the mayor was 29 percent last year. Likewise, she said the average raise in pay for council members was 24 percent.

No members from the audience spoke in favor of, or against the commission's recommendations during the meeting.

If the increases are approved, they would be for officials elected in November and would not be effective until Jan. 2, 2014.