Easley council adopts amended ordinance on mayor and council pay, expense caps after extended debate

The Easley City Council on Dec. 9 approved an amended ordinance to revise Section 30.08 (Compensation and Expenses) of the Easley City Code, changing how mayor and council pay and expense reimbursements are handled.

Council members spent more than an hour debating the proposal, which included a pay increase tied to the 2025 budget and a separate cap on expense reimbursements for mayor and council members. Supporters said the change updates compensation that had not been adjusted in 16 years; opponents urged separating salary increases from expense-policy corrections and postponing any pay raises until 2026 to allow more vetting.

The ordinance before the council was brought to second reading and then amended on the floor. Councilmember Robinson moved to incorporate language modeled on a Greenville County salary-adjustment ordinance (with the city attorney authorized to make local drafting changes), and Councilmember Rainey proposed a separate amendment capping expense reimbursements at $300 for the mayor and $100 for council members for 2025. After debate, council voted to adopt the ordinance as amended.

Public commenters at the meeting urged transparency on raises. One resident said moving mayoral pay from $700 to $1,000 per month is significant for hourly workers and asked for clearer public disclosure. Another resident said she supported a modest initial increase but expressed discomfort with automatically triggering votes on future raises.

Council members said the legal and disclosure requirements complicated drafting. A council member noted the city’s ethics and filing rules required careful review and that staff and the city attorney had spent months refining the language. Several council members asked that the salary portion be revisited during next year’s budget process and pointed out that the enacted expense caps apply only to 2025.

The ordinance as adopted amends Section 30.08 of Chapter 30, Title 3 of the Easley City Code; the council indicated the enacted expense limits apply to 2025. The measure does not, according to council remarks during debate, change any compensation levels effective before 2025. Council did not record a roll-call tally in the public transcript; the presiding officer called the ordinance adopted as amended and moved to the next agenda item.

Council members said further questions about timeline or technical details may be directed to the city administrator or city attorney and that salary specifics and effective dates will be clarified in the final published ordinance text.