Jamestown City Councilman and Finance Committee Chair Tony Dolce (second from left) shares details on the Salary Review Commission during the Jamestown City Council voting session on July 30, 2018.
JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council Monday Night acted on the appointment of all six members of the city’s ad hoc Salary Review Commission.
According to the city charter, the city is required to establish the commission in order to review and make recommendations on the salary for both Mayor and the nine members of the City Council.
The six commission members appointed on Monday are Dr. Lillian Ney, Howard Brook, Chloe Smith, Peg Cornell, Catherine Way, and Tyler Case.
Acting on salary recommendations for elected officials is always a touchy issue, especially when the city is facing major financial challenges, which the city is currently dealing with due to being at its constitutional taxing limit. That’s why city officials have not acted on any recommendations that have come forward the past 10 years.
Since 1984 the base city council salaries have been at $5,000, while council president’s salary is $6,000. Meanwhile the salary for the mayor is currently $72,000. The last time that was increased was at the start of 2008.
The last time commission recommendations were brought forward was in 2014. At that time it suggested the council salary be bumped up to $6,000 per year. It also recommended the mayor’s salary increase to $90,000 over a four-year period. Once the recommendations were made, the council opted not to change the salaries due to ongoing financial challenges facing the city.
Any recommendations that come from the current commission will be reviewed by the city council and if officials chose to adjust salaries the changes would not take place until a new city council and mayoral term begins, which would be in the year 2020.
The council has until early 2019 to receive the recommendations and act on any salary increase.
In other news, the city council also approved the appointment John LaMancuso to be a member of the city Planning Commission and Dr. Ney to be reappointed to the Jamestown Community College Board of Trustees.
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