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Council refers mayoral-salary and citywide pay schedule questions to Administrative Service Committee
Summary
Council discussed Ordinance 23 (first reading), which updates the city salary schedule. Topics included a proposal (not yet formalized) to raise the mayor’s salary with additional steps for advanced degrees, concerns about degree-based pay preferences, and questions about hospitalization/benefits language. The ordinance was referred to the Admin.
Cleveland Heights councilors discussed the first reading of Ordinance 23, the 2025 wage and salary schedule that adjusts pay for permanent full- and part-time employees and elected municipal positions.
During committee discussion, one council member said they had discussed with the law director a potential future proposal to increase the mayor’s salary to “around $120,000–$130,000” with step increases for an advanced degree in public administration, law or a related field. Council members said that concept was not part of the ordinance on the table and asked that any such proposal be discussed in committee separately.
Councilman Maddox cautioned that tying compensation to specific degrees can create barriers and reduce candidate diversity, calling for a broader review of qualifications and experience rather than degree-based pay alone. “That would be a dangerous road to go down,” Maddox said, urging a wider discussion of potential effects on candidate diversity.
Council members also raised questions about hospitalization and benefits language in the salary ordinance (the transcript references section 13 and section 14). The mayor and city administrator said that a 12.5 percent employee payroll contribution figure for hospitalization was within the typical range for comparable communities and that specific coverage details depend on the employee handbook and the winning bid from insurance providers; staff recommended HR provide details at committee.
Councilman Cobb and others asked for a list of positions that would be affected by the salary adjustments and for underlying survey sources used by the consultant (Archer Companies) so members could see comparator municipalities. The chair referred Ordinance 23 to the Administrative Service Committee for further review and asked staff to supply position lists and the consultant’s survey sources.
