Cleveland Heights committee reviews annual pay ordinance, weighs mayor pay, council reporting threshold and chiefs’ parity

The Cleveland Heights Administrative Services Committee on March 31 reviewed Ordinance 23-2025, the city’s annual salary ordinance that sets position classifications, salary schedules and other employee compensation. Committee members discussed a proposed $150,000 mayoral salary, how that compares with the city administrator pay, possible two-tiered mayoral steps tied to advanced degrees, and the reporting threshold that would require more detailed ethics disclosures for the council president.

Committee members said they wanted clearer limits on mayoral authority to make additional compensation outside the ordinance. One committee member asked that language in the ordinance making nonbase deferred compensation and one-time cost-of-living lump-sum payments by the mayor be made subject to council approval to reduce the risk of perceived or actual abuse.

The committee spent substantial time on pay parity for department heads and on disparities that emerged after recent contract settlements. Police department leaders told the committee the police chief’s base pay is below several captains’ pay after captain raises and retroactive pay, and asked the committee to adopt a percentage-based differential tied to the bargaining-unit captain base to preserve a market relationship between chief and captains. Committee members asked the law department to draft amendments (§139.26–139.27 were proposed in discussion) that would set police- and fire-chief compensation in ordinance language and permit certain benefits parity (longevity pay and sick-time buyback) consistent with collective bargaining agreement terms.

Committee members also flagged findings in the Archer market study included in the ordinance packet. One member noted the proposed midpoints for the mayor and the IT director were about 20% above Archer’s market midpoint and asked staff why those positions would be set higher than market. The committee did not remove those figures at the meeting but requested further financial analysis.

As a next step the committee chair asked the finance department to run cost calculations that include benefits and to model alternatives: a 10% and a 13% differential for the police chief and a 10% and a 14% differential for the fire chief, with resulting approximate salary ranges described to the committee as roughly $144,000–$148,000 for police chief and $129,000–$133,000 for fire chief depending on the percentage chosen. The chair asked the law department to draft ordinance language to add standalone compensation sections for those chiefs and to explore whether retroactive adjustments should be done by resolution if needed.

On council and elected-official pay, members discussed keeping the council-president stipend below the threshold that triggers expanded financial-disclosure reporting to the Ohio Ethics Commission (the threshold discussed in the meeting was $16,000) and whether raising council compensation might deter candidates because of reporting burdens. The committee also discussed increasing board/commission stipends (an example proposal raised during the meeting would raise board pay from $90 to $115 and to compensate the Landmark Commission) but took no final vote on those changes at the meeting.

No final vote on Ordinance 23-2025 was taken; committee members debated whether to forward a recommendation to the full council or to continue discussion in Committee of the Whole. The committee agreed to send requests to finance and the law department for drafting and fiscal impact work so the salary ordinance and any standalone amendments (including the proposed Chapter 139 additions for police and fire chiefs and the proposed language making certain mayoral compensation subject to council approval) could be considered by the full council in April.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to go into executive session to consider appointment of a public official: moved, seconded and approved by roll call (recorded as aye votes for President Tony Cuda and Chair Craig Cobb; roll-call recorded in the transcript).