$20,000 Salary Increase For City Council Members Proposed In Budget

Correction: The Tampa City Council members did request a review of their salaries.

TAMPA, FL — Members of the Tampa City Council agree it's time to raise the salaries of council members by $20,000.

The increase would raise council member salaries from $52,060 to $73,713.

During a special workshop on the city's 2023 budget Tuesday, Stephanie Poynor, a member of city's citizens advisory budget and financial committee, said the committee recommended the raise so the city council's salary would be more in keeping with what council members are paid in other Florida cities.

In St. Petersburg, city council members make $54,000; in Orlando $60,000; and in Miami $58,000.

"Eleven other municipalities' salaries for the same position you make is an average of $72,000 a year," Poynor told the council. "No, we are not other cities. But we want representation that is not independently wealthy. We want representation that can pay their mortgages while they're sitting on the council. This is not about you, the current council. This is about the future of the representation of our city."

Currently, if the city council salary was the only source of income for members, they would be at 80 percent of the average median income for a two-person family, she said. Last year, for a three-person family, council members were at 100 percent AMI, so the council is receiving a lower salary than last year.

"I don't want to get into the nitty gritty of the paychecks for everybody who appears before city council," she said. "Look around the room in front of you, council people. Most of those people are making significantly more than double your salary. The mayor's salary is $175,000 a year. Most of the folks on the city council are out every day working for the citizens right along with the mayor."

She said the average 2022 salaries of the heads of five city departments is $150,000 a year.

"I'm not a fan of overpaying for services. I'm cheap and all my friends will tell you how cheap I am. But I think this is an investment for the future. We are talking about an expenditure of $151,000 overall for the city budget," Poynor said. She said that's a tiny fraction of the overall city budget.

Council chairman Joseph Citro said he was misquoted in a recent article concerning city council salaries. He said he was quoted as saying voters have the chance to vote council members off if they do not like the pay raise.

"That is not a statement I made. That's not even a paraphrase I made," Citro said. "The statement I made was, 'I was elected to a certain pay scale with an increase of cost of living per year. That was a contractual agreement I had with the voters. I would prefer to wait until May 1st, after I'm re-elected, to enter into a different pay scale that I would be voted in for.' It has nothing to do with whether the voters want to vote anybody in or out of office."

"I'm grateful when people recognize that we are out there doing our jobs," said council member Orlando Gudes. "But no one pays my parking ticket when I have to go to a meeting and I run over at the meeting. The city doesn't give me a parking pass. The mayor has a driver. I have to use another family member's car because it's cheaper on gas. I drive all over the city. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve but I'm not stupid. Citizens aren't either. They want their services. They want their council members to be available. So, I will support the salary increase. I think it's needed."

"I think it's a reasonable discussion to have," council member Luis Viera said. "It's not something the public is clamoring for but we want people to be able to run for office. We want people to be able to serve. However, I would strongly, strongly, strongly discourage making this pay increase effective before the next council takes over. If that isn't a law, we should make it one because I just think philosophically when you run for office, you run as a contract with the voters, with the constituents."

He said he was a partner in his law firm for about nine years when he ran for city council, and knew he would take a pay cut if elected.

"For me, it was more than offset by being able to help the public," Viera said. "It's a trade-off we make. But we need to have city council salaries that are more amenable to the public, that allows more people to serve."

"Things have gotten more expensive," council member Guido Maniscalco said. He noted that the house across the street from his grandfather's in a working-class West Tampa neighborhood just sold for $418,000. Maniscalco said if he had wanted to buy that house, he wouldn't qualify.

"We want good people to run for office," he said, and bringing up the salaries to the level of their legislative aides (in the low $70s) is reasonable.

"When you seek an elected position, you know what the salary is," said council member Charlie Miranda. "You don't run for office just to get a salary. At my age, and I'm going to tell you I'm going to be 82, it's not about a salary. It's what you want to do to make the city better. I never took a job in government for the salary. At 82, I work two jobs; I work seven days a week and I like it that way."

"We as an elected body have faced more issues in the last 3 1/2 years than any council that came before us," Citro said. "If you look at this dais, the majority of us work two jobs. This is still designated as a part-time position, even though I work 40 hours here. I'll take the pay increase May 1."

According to Dennis Rogero Jr., chief financial officer, the proposed 2023 city budget is nearly $1.866 billion, just under a 4 percent increase over the previous budget due to increased staffing, additional community redevelopment area contributions, additional police, fire and rescue equipment, higher fuel costs, additional funding for vehicles, continued funding of water and wastewater programs, an expansion of the solid waste capital improvements program, facilities projects, increased funding for parks and recreation, and pay increases associated with collective bargaining for city employees.

He said one of the way these increases were funded was the deferral of the public safety center, a $150 million project the relocate the police department, which is currently renting facilities in downtown Tampa.

"We're saving millions in general fund debt service by deferring that project," Rogero said.

He said the general fund budget of $549.3 million is mostly for police ($199.5 million) and fire ($124.5 million).

The enterprise fund budget of $882.1 million for departments that are run like businesses and have to maintain a profit includes $326.6 for the water department, $211.9 million for solid waste and environmental program management, $314.9 million for the city's wastewater program, $23.4 million for parking and $5.1 million for golf courses.

The overwhelming majority of employees, including police and firefighters, are receiving a 9.5 percent pay increase with 6 percent for managers and 5.6 percent for elected officials.

There will be two public hearings on the budget. The first will take place Sept. 6 and the second hearing and adoption of the budget will take place Sept. 20. Residents can review the budget by clicking here.