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Gary City finance committee discusses $10,000 increase for city attorney budget and $50 mayoral donation
Summary
At a May 13 finance committee meeting, staff described a proposed $10,000 increase to the city attorney line item for the 2025 budget and reported a $50 donation to the mayor's donation fund; committee members asked staff to prepare a comparative pay analysis for city positions.
At a Gary City Council finance committee meeting Tuesday, members discussed a proposal to raise the 2025 budgeted salary for the city attorney from $75,000 to $85,000 and recorded a $50 donation to the mayor’s donation fund. Councilwoman Linda Barnes Caldwell, standing in for Finance Committee Chair Mary Brown, presided.
Chief of Staff Dumas told the committee that the $10,000 increase is funded by eliminating an internship position that has been vacant for about five years and reallocating some amounts to fringe benefits, leaving the overall city budget unchanged. "We're simply asking for $85,000 in an effort to retain one of our...best attorneys for the city," Dumas said.
Dumas also said a staff analysis placed the city's attorney pay in the lower fifth percentile compared with peers across Northwest Indiana and that the regional average for the position was substantially higher, though a precise regional figure was not stated on the record. An unnamed councilmember urged staff to prepare a position-by-position, city-by-city comparison and to examine workers' compensation and other pay-percent differences to help retain talent. "Attorney Molina is a amazing attorney and moves us forward greatly," the councilmember said.
On the same agenda item, Dumas said the city received a $50 check from BrightStar Corporation for the mayor's donation account. The presented materials list proposed donations of $1,500 for 2025 and a total mayoral donation fund budget of $45,470; Dumas said no additional expenses are currently planned from that account. The cash-reserve figure discussed in the meeting was not specified clearly in the record.
Committee members did not record a formal vote on the budget change or on accepting the donation during the discussion captured in the transcript. Dumas said he would work with City Controller Salida Green to prepare the comparative budget and pay analysis for a future meeting.
The discussion combined a personnel-budget clarification—reallocating funds from an unfilled internship to the city attorney salary—and a routine accounting of a small private donation to the mayor's donation fund. No formal action or vote was shown in the transcript.
