JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council will likely hold off on deciding on any salary increases for the position of mayor or the council until after the 2016 budget process is complete.
That’s according to city councilman and finance committee chairman Tony Dolce, who said Monday night that city council president Gregory Rabb has put a proposal forward to provide a modest increase to both the mayor’s salary and the city council’s salary.
The discussion for the salary increase is based on recommendations from the city’s salary review commission, which suggested at the end of 2014 that the city council’s salary be increased from $5,000 to $6,000 and that the mayor’s salary be increased from $72,000 to $90,000 over a four-year period, starting in 2016.
Rabb’s proposal doesn’t go nearly as far, with a suggestion that the council members’ salaries increase by just $500 over a four-year period ($125 each year), while the mayor’s salary be increased by $3,000 over a four-year period.
Dolce said the finance committee would likely consider the proposal later this year.
Meanwhile, Mayor Sam Teresi said that if the council were to approve any type of salary increase for elected city officials, he would prefer the increase not go into effect until 2017 – considering the difficult time they will have with next year’s budget.
The council has until the end of this year to act on any salary increase for the new term for mayor and city council, which begins on Jan. 1, 2016. If it doesn’t act on an increase, it would have to wait until Jan. 1, 2018 and Jan. 1, 2020 to implement a salary increase for the council and the mayor, respectively.
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