[Charter-Com] Pay hike for St. Charles County Council?

Mon Feb 18 23:52:23 UTC 2008

Good info, Paul.  Thanks.  I have printed a double-sided copy and will provide one for everyone at the next meeting.

Laura

________________________________

From: commission-jeffcocharter.org-bounces at lists.jeffcocharter.org on behalf of Paul M. Reinheimer
Sent: Fri 2/15/2008 6:51 PM
To: commission: lists.jeffcocharter.org
Subject: [Charter-Com] Pay hike for St. Charles County Council?

THIS MESSAGE WAS SENT VIA THE CHARTER COMMISSION MAILING LIST, AND HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AS A PUBLIC RECORD.
Everyone,

I saw this in today's paper and thought i'd pass it on. I understand this topic is month's from now, but felt it is important.

Enjoy your weekend,

Paul M. Reinheimer

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/C4C3A2460BD41F4B862573F0001B45A8?OpenDocument

Proposed new pay for St. Charles County Council - $14,375

CURRENT AREA SALARIES:

St. Louis County Council $20,000 or $12,500*

St. Peters aldermen $14,525

St. Charles County Council $12,500

St. Charles City Council $10,200

O'Fallon City Council $7,600

Wentzville aldermen $5,500

Lake Saint Louis aldermen $5,500 or $2,400*

* Amount depends on when term began.

Pay hike for St. Charles County Council?
By Mark Schlinkmann
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/15/2008

ST. CHARLES COUNTY - The County Council may soon approve a 15 percent pay raise for councilmen chosen in the next two elections - this year and in 2010.

Legislation calling for the pay boost, to $14,375 a year from the current $12,500, was introduced Monday. The council chairman would continue to get an extra $1,800 annually.

The sponsor, Chairman Dan Foust, R-6th District, said it's a compromise between a 20 percent increase favored by some members and a 10 percent boost proposed by another.

Over the past four years, most full-time county employees have gotten yearly pay raises which together total more than 13 percent. Foust said the proposed hikes for the part-time council members are in line with those. Advertisement

Because state law bars elected officials from increasing their own pay during their current terms in office, the county boosts would be phased in gradually.

Council members elected later this year from the three even-numbered districts would start getting the new amount next year. They would be followed in 2011 by those elected in 2010 from the four odd-numbered districts.

Under that system, Foust said, "The public knows full well what the council's going to be paid under the next election cycle."

At least one council member is opposed to the increase - Paul Wynn, R-4th District.

"I can't in good conscience vote for it," he said, given the council's inability in December to come up with enough money in this year's budget to give sheriff's deputies a pay raise closer to what Sheriff Tom Neer had sought.

County Council members already earn more than members of governing bodies of most of the county's larger cities.

An exception is St. Peters, where aldermen get $14,525 a year - slightly more than the proposed $14,375 county salary. As with many governing groups, the St. Peters board pays its presiding officer an extra amount.

The County Council proposal lags behind pay raises already being phased in for the St. Louis County Council.

Last year those elected in 2006 to four seats on the St. Louis County body began getting $20,000 salaries, up from the previous $12,500 amount. Next year that will happen for the three other seats.

As for the St. Charles County deputies, the council did approve giving them bigger percentage increases than other county employees are getting this year.

The deputies won an across-the-board 5 percent increase, compared with the 3 percent boost most other county workers are getting. Neer and a deputies association had complained that deputies were paid less than police officers in the county's larger cities.

Wynn had been among a minority on the council that instead favored a pay grade boost for deputies with five years' seniority, which would have resulted in raises of 7 percent or more.

mschlinkmann at post-dispatch.com

636-255-7203

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