LIMA — The focus over the battle to consider changing the mayor’s salary in Lima revolved largely on whether council was paying for a position or for experience.
Lima council’s finance committee met Monday to discuss a possible change to the mayor’s salary, a number that grew from about $86,000 in 2000 to about $132,000 today. The increase was due to a formula adopted by council in 2000 that increased the mayor’s salary by 3 percent every year. The salary will be in the range of $135,000 by the end of this term in 2017.
The council already has approved freezing the mayor’s salary at $135,000 for the first two years of the term beginning in 2017, but some felt that was not a significant enough stall.
Councilor Ann Miles told other committee members that she had a problem paying a new mayor the same salary that the current mayor, David Berger, had built up over the years.
“This salary is the culmination of 20 years of service,” Miles said. “For someone to come in here with no qualifications or experience is not a good use of the city’s money. To me it makes no sense.”
Berger and Allen County Republican Party chairman Keith Cheney have already announced plans to run for mayor next year.
Miles argued a new mayor comes in only from a choice by the voters, a decision based on popularity more than qualifications.
However, councilor Sam McLean countered that claim.
“We have to remove ‘Berger’ from the equation,” he said. “We have to consider what is an equitable salary for a town of 37,000 people. We have to set the standard, period. It makes no difference how long they have been there.”
Committee chairman Teresa Adams made a recommendation that the committee should propose freezing the salary for the second two years of the new term beginning in 2017. Miles seconded that motion, but the committee got into more discussion before finally approving the move.
McLean voted against the motion, warning the recommendation would likely not be met with approval from the full council. McLean said he felt a salary between $85,000 and $100,000 was more in line based on the size of the community, and later said he was willing to compromise and propose a figure of $110,000.
Councilor Jesse Lowe also spoke briefly at the meeting, saying a freeze saving the city $17,000 was not getting the job done. Adams said earlier that freezing the cost of living raise for 2019 and 2020 would save the city about $17,000.
“People are screaming for change, and I have had a lot of individuals say the same thing,” Lowe said. “They are sick of us out there. They want him (Berger) gone. When it comes back to council as a whole, if it is not under $100,000, it will not pass.”
Council President John Nixon, who also attended the meeting, told the committee that he would “support the original recommendation of $135,000.”
The committee will make the recommendation to the full council at Monday’s meeting.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
