Struthers council advances 2025 appropriation ordinance after debate over elected-official pay

The Struthers City Council’s finance and legislation committee moved an ordinance appropriating the city’s 2025 expenditures out of committee after a lengthy discussion about employee pay increases, elected-official raises and budgeted line items.

The ordinance in front of the committee would appropriate current expenditures for the City of Struthers for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2025, and would repeal ordinance No. 24-085 as stated in the meeting. Committee members debated a mayoral and other elected-official pay increase and proposed adjustments to a 3% across‑the‑board raise the mayor had recommended.

Why it matters: The appropriation ordinance sets the city’s spending plan for 2025 and includes personnel costs that drive the general fund outlay. Council members pressed for caution about large midterm pay increases for elected officials and discussed phased increases to avoid future budget pressure if revenues fall.

Committee members discussed two higher-than-3% adjustments that drew most attention: a proposed increase to the elected treasurer’s pay and a suggested additional amount added to the mayor’s salary. Members noted the treasurer’s current pay stated in the discussion was about $14,000 and some members characterized the proposed percentage increase as large relative to that base. The group discussed compromise options, including a one-time allocation already placed in the proposed budget and a possible 10% increase for the treasurer this year (which participants estimated would move the treasurer’s pay to roughly $15,400), with a reevaluation in a year or two. The council also discussed allocating roughly $1,500 in the draft budget toward the mayor’s pay, described in the meeting as increasing the mayor’s salary beyond the baseline 3% raise built into the budget.

Finance figures cited during the meeting: committee members reviewed estimated certified receipts of about $6,400,000 for the general fund and a proposed general fund budget of approximately $5,800,000 for 2025. Members noted that while some funds show reserves above a typical 10% target, rollovers have been smaller in recent years and that unexpected expenses (for example, bridge work mentioned separately) can reduce available funds.

Several council members urged incremental raises tied to future budget reviews rather than larger midterm increases for elected positions; others said some positions historically were underpaid and that some recent raises have closed long-standing gaps. The mayor and administration staff responded with context about past adjustments and the workload associated with certain positions.

Votes at a glance: The committee made a motion to bring the 2025 appropriation ordinance out of committee for further consideration and seconded that motion; the motion carried (no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript). No final adoption vote on the ordinance occurred during the meeting.

The ordinance text under discussion also referenced repealing ordinance No. 24-085; the committee agreed to move the appropriation ordinance forward for full council consideration and further revision where members asked staff to adjust the specific elected-official increases to a level the committee could support.

Next steps: The ordinance will return to full council (or the committee’s next formal step) for additional action and a recorded vote. Council members said they would re-evaluate any larger elected-official raises in one to two years if approved incrementally now.