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Committee restores salary-range question for council and mayor; debate over wording, benefits and order of questions
Summary
Members debated how to present council and mayor compensation to the public, whether to include concrete dollar ranges and benefits information, and voted to re-add a salary-range question with expanded numeric choices.
Sunnyvale’s Charter Review Committee on Sept. 25 voted to restore a numerical salary-range question about council and mayor pay to the survey after committee members, staff and public speakers argued over readability, context and whether to present median-income or inflation-linked options.
Deputy City Manager Connie Vercelles walked the committee through the survey platform, participation history and tradeoffs of providing too much background information. Public commenter Zachary K urged the committee to include benefits in the compensation summary, noting that health benefits significantly increase total compensation for some officeholders.
Several committee members said respondents need context to interpret dollar figures: Scott Neuswanger and Member Olofsson suggested showing ranges or historical turnout/cost data so respondents are not making choices in the dark. Others, including Chair Larson and Vice Chair Wickham, warned that too many numbers can deter completion and suggested keeping background language concise.
After discussion the committee restored question 2c (salary-range choices) and expanded the ranges so the survey includes options covering current pay and higher levels (e.g., multiple brackets up to and above $140,000 for council members and up to $160,000 for mayor). Member Newswanger moved to re-add the ranges and Member Pine seconded; the motion passed 8-0 with two members absent.
The committee also removed a duplicate question about automatic annual adjustments (2e) and debated whether to ask respondents whether pay should be adjusted automatically each year or set as a flat amount that only voters could change. The final survey draft will show both mechanism and numeric-range questions in order; staff will combine and fine-tune wording before launch.
Ending: Staff will implement the restored and revised salary-range question in the survey, provide committee members the final link and present collected results to the committee at the Oct. 23 meeting.
