THE GAZETTE
Page A-8
Wednesday, September 25, 2013 z
Proposal calls for pay hike for next county executive, council n
Move separate from scheduled cost-of-living salary increases BY
RYAN MARSHALL STAFF WRITER
The salary for Montgomery County’s next County Council members could be 20 percent more than it is now, under a proposal presented to the council on Tuesday. The county executive’s pay could rise about 5 percent. Some of those increases are recommended by a committee that’s required to study local salaries every four years. But some of the additional money already is guaranteed, through costof-living increases for the council and executive already set to take effect in December, unrelated to the salary study. The study commission also recommended that raises in the county’s sheriff and state’s attorney salaries match a consumer price index. The report of the Committee to Advertisement
Study the Compensation of the County Executive, County Council, Sheriff and State’s Attorney is solicited by the council every four years. The current recommendations would apply to the new council that will be seated following the 2014 election. The changes wouldn’t go into effect until Dec. 1, 2014, and will not apply to the current council and executive, who are legally prohibited from giving themselves a raise. Under the proposal, the county executive’s salary would increase from $180,250 to $190,000 per year, while the council’s pay would rise from $104,022 per year to $125,000. Some of that bump would come through the guaranteed cost-of-living increases taking effect at the end of this year. Nancy Navarro (D-Dist. 4) of Silver Spring currently receives an additional 10 percent as council president, with a salary of $114,425. The proposal would keep that additional 10 percent for the next president.
The committee presented its findings to the council on Tuesday, Council members expressed their gratitude to the committee members, but took no action. A bill will be drawn up with the committee’s recommendations and a public hearing will be held before the issue goes to the council for a vote, Navarro said. The council can accept the recommendations, lower them or reject them. Councilwoman Valerie Ervin (DDist. 5) of Takoma Park said she hopes discussion of the bill won’t obscure the fact that public service is a high calling. Many people choose not to run for office because of concerns over whether they can make it work financially, meaning politics tends to draw people from wealthier backgrounds, she said. Council Vice President Craig Rice (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown said one of the main challenges of public service is sustaining a young family on a public official’s salary.
Councilman Phil Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg said he would like to see a gradual increase rather than have it done in “too much of one fell swoop.” At a Sept. 18 community meeting between Rice and constituents in Damascus, Damascus resident Sue Payne said she didn’t think the council should get such a big increase when many people in the county are just getting by financially, coping with high county taxes and fees. The council already is scheduled to get more money, but hasn’t done enough to root out waste in county finances, Payne said. Council members and County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) are scheduled to receive a previously approved 2.28 percent cost-of-living increase on Dec. 2. Under the compensation committee’s recommendation, the executive and council’s salaries would increase each year by the same percentage as any increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers for the Wash-
ington-Baltimore Metropolitan Area for the 12 months leading up to each Sept. 1. The index won’t be calculated until the end of this month. The county’s sheriff currently receives $154,000 a year and will get a 2.1 percent cost-of-living increase on Dec. 2. The committee report suggests tying any raise in the sheriff’s salary to the consumer price index, too. The same recommendation on the index was made for the state’s attorney, whose $199,000 salary will get a cost-ofliving increase in January. Gino Renne, president of the county’s general employee union, the United Food and Commercial Worker said that as a labor leader, he supports the principle of workers receiving competitive pay hikes. The union’s current agreement with the county will pay eligible workers a 3.5 percent step increase, a 3 percent longevity increase and a 3.25 percent cost-of-living increase in each of the next two years.
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