Boise City Council approves pay ordinance for mayor and council, effective Jan. 1, 2025

Boise — The Boise City Council approved ORD 1-25 on a tie-breaking vote to revise council and mayor compensation and to clarify duties of the council president, with the ordinance taking effect Jan. 1, 2025.

The ordinance amends Boise City Code Title 1, Chapter 6, Sections 2 and 3 to add salary schedules for fiscal years 2026 through 2031, increases the daily stipend paid to a council member acting as mayor, and clarifies council president responsibilities. Council suspended the usual multi-day reading requirement to consider the ordinance immediately and approved the measure in the same meeting.

Council debate was split. Several council members said the adjustment is intended to partially correct pay forgone during COVID and to better align elected-official pay with city staff cost-of-living increases; supporters described the change as a market-based correction that still leaves council pay below comparable cities. Opponents said the size of the increase is excessive while budgets remain constrained and expressed concern about optics and accessibility for constituents.

Clerk roll call produced an even split among council members. The mayor cast the deciding vote to approve the ordinance. No amendment to the ordinance’s substantive provisions was recorded at the time of passage.

The ordinance sets an effective date of Jan. 1, 2025, for the new salary schedule and includes a waiver of the ordinance-reading rules to allow immediate consideration.

Council members and staff said they expect to examine longer-term changes to how elected-official pay is set — including tying adjustments to budget processes or cost-of-living mechanisms — but no formal direction or ordinance to change that process was adopted at the meeting.

The city clerk recorded the motion to approve ORD 1-25 and confirmed the mayor’s tie-breaking vote as the deciding factor in the measure’s passage.