Alexandria City Council Pulls Pay Raise Proposal for Themselves

PHOTO: Alexandria City Council Member Paul Smedberg asks to pull salary raise proposal Saturday from Council meeting agenda.

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ALEXANDRIA, VA — The Alexandria City Council was set to vote itself a pay raise Saturday but the item was pulled from the agenda by City Council Member Paul Smedberg.

“As the maker of the motion we’re going to go ahead and actually propose that we pull this and permanently table it. I think we need to have a more robust public discussion of what our duties are nowadays,” he said, adding that responsibilities are expanded with 15 hours a week spent on regional issues alone.

“It is what it is and we’ll have the same 25 excuses of why not to do it,” Smedberg said in remarks at the top of the meeting Saturday. He asked the City Manager to come up with information in January about increasing City Council aides’ salaries.

The Alexandria City Council was going to vote Saturday on giving themselves (or more precisely the elected positions, beginning in 2016) a raise for their elected part-time positions. Since elected officials can’t increase their own salaries, the mayor’s and council’s pay cannot be raised for another three years. The incoming council’s term begins Jan.4, and lasts for three years.

The salary increase would have gone into effect in January for the new board, which includes everyone on the council except for Mayor Euille, who lost a run for a fifth term to Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg. Willie Bailey was elected in November and will be sworn in as a new council member.

If passed, Council members’ pay would have increased from $27,500 to $45,000; the Mayor’s salary would have increased from $30,500 to $50,000.

Although serving on the City Council is “part time,” Council members and the Mayor spend many hours preparing for and attending meetings, meeting with citizens, responding to mail, researching issues and representing the City at local functions.

Alexandria City Council members became eligible in 2003 for the City’s supplemental retirement plan, group life insurance and health insurance programs.

Here’s what other locally elected reps are paid in surrounding jurisdictions. For comparison sake, Alexandria’s population is about 150,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• In neighboring Arlington County, the chairman receives a $55,140 salary while the other Board members receive a $50,127 salary. The population for the county is about 226,000.
• Fairfax County board members voted for a pay raise this year that goes into effect in 2016. Each Board member, including the chairman, now receives annual compensation of $75,000 per year. This amount was set on April 24, 2006, effective January 1, 2008; Starting in January, board members’ salaries increase by $20,000 to $95,000. The chairman will make $100,000, up from $75,000. The county’s population is about 1.1 million.
• In Loudoun County, population about 350,000 the board chair receives $50,000 per year; the vice-chair $45,320 and the supervisors $41,200.

In smaller cities and towns, the compensation is much lower. In Fairfax City, population about 24,000, the mayor receives $6,500; city council members receive $4,500. That compensation will increase to $13,000 and $12,000 in July. In the Town of Vienna, population 16,370, the mayor receives $6,000 per year and council members receive $5,000 per year.