Council seeks automatic pay raises

PINELLAS PARK -- City Council members will take less money but still want an automatic pay raise every year.

The latest proposed salary increase would match the annual cost-of-living adjustments given to retired city employees.

Based on the current COLA of 2.3236 percent, a council member's salary would rise from $13,000 to about $13,300. The mayor's salary would rise from $15,000 to about $15,340. Increases in subsequent years would be determined by the city's pension board.

"To keep from having to talk about it every year, we need to go to an automatic system," council member Ed Taylor said at Thursday's meeting. "From a political standpoint, it just works better."

Council members originally sought an automatic pay raise that this year would have reached 5.5 percent, but on Thursday they said that might be too much.

Resident Charles Settgast also disliked the new proposal. "To my knowledge, no one on this council needs money," Settgast told council members. "You should be volunteers."

The city has slightly more than 200 retirees, but last year only 110 former employees received automatic cost-of-living increases. The city has strict criteria -- including length of service, disability, or union contract provisions -- to qualify for a COLA.

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