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Council adopts amended language to let budget committee review council pay, approves annual review during budget cycle
Summary
After a unanimous ad hoc recommendation and public comment, the council amended proposed charter language to require annual review during the budget cycle and removed wording that would delay increases for sitting members; council approved the resolution as amended and declared potential conflicts before voting.
The Astoria City Council on Aug. 5 advanced a charter amendment process to allow non-elected members of the city budget committee to determine council compensation and adopted modifications to the committee's recommended language.
David Ozer, chair of the ad hoc compensation committee, said the group unanimously recommended that compensation be set by the non-elected members of the city budget committee and discussed anchoring pay to the minimum wage as a not-to-exceed cap. The committee's report noted current council compensation was effectively below a living wage for the hours required to serve.
Councilor Davis moved to replace the phrase "periodically reviewed" with "annually reviewed during budget cycle" so changes would occur on a regular, budget-linked schedule. He also moved to delete a sentence that would have delayed any compensation changes for sitting members until after reelection. Both amendments passed. Councilors declared potential financial conflicts of interest before voting, as city attorneys advised that such declarations should be recorded.
The council then approved the resolution as amended by roll call. The practical effect is that, if voters approve the charter amendment language (next steps outside tonight's meeting), the budget committee would review and set compensation annually during the city's budget process, using staff-provided recommendations (the committee discussed anchoring calculations to minimum wage as a benchmark). Council members stressed the importance of implementing any change for the full council at the same time to avoid a two-tier pay structure.
Mayor Mary Fitzpatrick and the city attorney clarified that the adopted language was intended to avoid perceptions of a pay change that benefits sitting members without voter knowledge; the council's action sets the charter language to go forward for the next procedural steps toward a ballot question or charter amendment process as required by state law.
