Commission votes itself a 10 percent raise

The move comes after 10 percent raises in 1997, 1998 and 2000. A final vote will be taken Sept. 18.

By ERIC STIRGUS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 5, 2001

LARGO -- For the fourth time in the past five years, city commissioners are considering giving themselves a 10 percent pay raise.

If approved, the mayor's salary would jump from $15,010 a year to $16,516.50. The annual salary for city commissioners would rise from $10,010 to $11,011. City commissioners passed 10 percent raises for themselves in 1997, 1998 and 2000.

"I was happy if I got a 2 percent raise in one year," said Largo resident Fran Clingerman, 31, who recently gave up her job at Tech Data to become a stay-at-home mom. "I don't think they've done anything to deserve a 10 percent raise."

But resident Keith Scherer said he had no qualms with such a raise, and cited the long meetings and citizen complaints commissioners must endure.

"Eleven-thousand (dollars) a year for all the complaints they get isn't that bad," said Scherer, 43, a retired U.S. Army sergeant.

Commissioners gave initial approval to the idea by a 4-2 margin at a meeting Tuesday night. Commissioners Mary Laurance and Marty Shelby voted against the raise, while Commissioner Pat Burke was not at the meeting. A final vote on the matter will be taken Sept. 18.

Commissioners who support the pay raise said they think it will encourage more Largo residents to run for office. In this year's election, Commissioner Marty Shelby was unopposed while incumbent Harriet Crozier's lone challenger was city code enforcement board member Sal Gattuso. Crozier won handily.

"I would support (efforts) to keep doing it until we get more people interested in serving," said Mayor Bob Jackson.

Laurance, who voted against last year's raise, listed several reasons for her opposition. She wondered if it is a conflict of interest for commissioners to determine their own salary and suggested it would be more appropriate for an independent resident board to decide how much money they should make.

"It's service-oriented," Laurance said of being a commissioner. "And I need to be frugal about the taxpayers' money."

Commissioner Pat Gerard said the current salary for a commissioner is low, considering the many meetings and ribbon-cutting ceremonies they must attend, along with speaking to reporters and reviewing city budgets and other documents.

"Nobody wants to be greedy, but I'm finding the more I serve on the commission, the more work it is," said Gerard, who estimates she spends 15-20 hours a week performing commission-related activities.

The pay increase comes less than a month after commissioners approved a 7 percent raise in each of the next three years for most city employees. They also recently approved a 10 percent salary increase for City Manager Steven Stanton.

In other business, commissioners also approved a new 15-year agreement with Time Warner to provide cable service to Largo residents. As part of the new deal, Time Warner will extend Largo's government access channel to about 14,000 Largo residents and others who live near city limits but do not currently the service.

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