ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, July 8, 1996 TAG: 9607080113
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
Salem City Council will vote tonight whether to raise its pay. But avoiding the same "snafu" that its neighboring municipal body had in May, Salem is expected to discuss the issue in public.
Council members, who are paid $7,000, can raise their pay as much as $5,000, to $12,000, under an increased salary cap the General Assembly approved this year.
The mayor's salary - $8,000 - also could be raised as much as $5,000, to $13,000.
During a meeting in June, some Salem council members said they were caught off guard by a proposed resolution to raise their pay. And they said they wanted more time to study whether such a raise would be fair to other city employees. So they put the issue off until tonight's meeting.
Then-Salem Mayor Jim Taliaferro - who retired last month - jokingly said that he wanted to avoid running into the same problem Roanoke had.
"We don't want to get into any snafu like our neighbors did," he said.
Roanoke City Council admitted it had "goofed" during a closed meeting in May, which had been called for another reason, when it decided to raise its pay.what was the outcome of the `goof?' Public outrage? If so, state.
After a public hearing in June, Roanoke council members raised their pay by $1,000, to $14,000. Mayor David Bowers' annual salary was raised $3,000, to $18,000.
Salem is on a lower pay scale because it has a smaller population.
During the June meeting where Salem council members first considered pay raises, Taliaferro and Councilman Alex Brown suggested that their proposed raises be compared with the cost-of-living raises other city employees have had since 1988 - the last time council members raised their own pay.
After comparing the two, City Manager Randy Smith said he was surprised at how close to the General Assembly's salary cap council members' pay raises would have been if they were normal city employees.
Smith said the mayor's salary - at the same rate of increase as other Salem employees - would have come within $700 of the $13,000 annual salary the General Assembly is allowing for a city the size of Salem.
And council members' salaries would have been within $1,300 of their $12,000 salary cap, he said.
Sonny Tarpley, who became mayor last week, said he expects any discussion of the council's salaries to be done in public tonight.
"Unless some council member makes a motion to the contrary, I have no intention of going into executive session," Tarpley said.
Smith didn't think the council would have any reason to discuss the matter in closed session.
"Nor would they want to," he said. "To me, it's not something you could spend time on" in executive session.
Smith also praised Brown and Taliaferro for suggesting the comparison with city employees' pay raises. And he said if it works, the city could use it again.
"That was a unique approach to try to figure this out," he said.
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