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Meridian council debates tying mayor and council pay to general employee compensation cycle
Summary
City legal presented a proposal to put mayor and council compensation on the same market‑study and annual cost‑of‑living cycle as general employees; councilmembers debated timing, baseline setting, election timing constraints and whether to ask the Citizen Compensation Committee or an outside consultant for recommendations.
City legal asked the Meridian City Council on May 26 to consider an ordinance aligning mayor and council compensation with the city's general employee compensation cycle.
Mister Neri told council members the draft would move mayoral and council pay reviews into the same cycle as general employees, using the same market studies, annual reviews and cost‑of‑living adjustments applied across city positions. He said the only statutory constraint is that compensation changes must be set a specific period ahead of elections.
Councilmembers debated whether the council should accept the approach in principle and whether to set a new baseline or ask the Citizen Compensation Committee to reissue its prior recommendation. Councilman Overton and others supported tying elected pay to the employee COLA so elected officials would receive the same routine cost‑of‑living adjustments; other councilmembers urged care in selecting the baseline number and timing so increases do not occur mid‑budget cycles.
Some members said the dollar impact would be small — a few thousand dollars per year for the whole council — but several asked staff to provide the prior compensation committee’s report, multi‑year budget forecasts and scheduling options to ensure any change fits the FY2028 budget and election timing. Legal staff noted that if the council wants to change compensation, it would need to set the new salary before the next election cycle (the packet cites the timing requirement in state statute).
No ordinance was introduced or voted on at the work session; the council directed staff to reprovide the compensation committee materials and to return with timing options and recommended baselines for further discussion.
