Wednesday, September 15, 1999
Council pay hasn't changed since 1928
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — In 1928, new cars sold for about $600, the average American's annual pay was $1,384, and city council members were paid $300 a year under the city's new charter.
Now, 71 years later, new cars often sell for more than $15,000, and the average American is earning $27,332. But Hamilton City Council members are still getting $300 — the lowest council salary among Ohio's big cities and one of the nation's lowest among cities with a 50,000-plus population.
“A lot of things have changed since 1928 — the year I was born — but council's pay isn't one of them,” said George McNally, a current councilman who is seeking re-election to his eighth term. “People think that section of the city charter (that set council salaries) is the equivalent of the Ten Commandments or the U.S. Constitution. They won't change it.”
Despite officials' assurances that no tax increase would be needed to cover higher pay,
voters have repeatedly defeated a charter amendment that is required to change the salary. As a result, some say, the low pay is hurting the city's image and is discouraging some people from seeking office.
Nevertheless, 10 candidates are running for seven council seats this fall — and a former city councilman applauds them for it.
“People talk about being public servants, but sometimes they're public servants at $120,000 and up. The Hamilton City Council people are public servants at next to zero,” said attorney James Cooney, who served on council from 1992-93.
Mr. Cooney said he did not even know how much council was paid when he decided to run for election; he just wanted to serve his community.
“Lots of people run, in my opinion, because Hamilton for some reason has lots of people who have lived here their whole lives and want to give something back,” he said. “It's an older town; a lot of people were born here.”
Still, Mr. Cooney called the pay “ridiculous,” especially considering the city's size — about 62,000 — and its budget of more than $200 million.
An Enquirer survey of Ohio's 25 largest cities found that Cleveland, second-largest in population, pays the top council salary: $53,653. Cincinnati, ranked third in population, has the second-highest, $49,460. The biggest city in Ohio, Columbus, pays its council members $25,000 a year.
The state's second-lowest-paid council is in Youngstown, Ohio's most economically depressed city. The salary there: $600 per year.
Shari Weir of Ohio Citizen Action, a Cleveland-based consumer advocacy group based in Cleveland, said she was astounded to learn about Hamilton's $300 salary. “I would never have guessed that an elected official could be making the same amount of money they did more than a half-century ago,” she said.
Chris Rankin, a city resident for 35 years, offered this opinion:
“I think there's a desperate lack of interest among the general public about council and city business.”
Councilman Richard Holzberger has another theory about the defeated pay raises. “I think there's an attitude that people don't think we do much,” he said, adding, “They should spend a week with me.”
Last week, Mr. Holzberger said he attended three meetings with union leaders, participated in three special council meetings, fielded 15 telephone calls from citizens with com plaints and spent a couple hours reading his weekly two-inch-thick packet of council documents.
Council hopeful Archie A. Johnson, president of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the low salaries may contribute to a lack of diversity on council. Among seven current council members, none is black and one is female.
“The way it's always been in this town is that the people with all the money control the most council seats,” said Mr. Johnson, who has lived in the city for 34 of his 36 years.
A material handler for the General Motors plant in Moraine near Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Johnson said he thinks people aren't satisfied with council's performance “and most people think council has too much power, so they're not willing to give them any more money.”
Mr. Johnson said he would consider revisiting the pay issue if elected, possibly as a way to encourage a broader range of candidates.
Mayor Tom Nye said it sometimes bothers him that he is paid about $10,200 for his part-time post — 34 times the pay his fellow council members receive. Under Hamilton's charter, all seven council members are elected at once and the top vote-getter becomes mayor. The charter allows the mayor's salary to be set by council vote.
“It's not that I am being overpaid,” he said, “but that they are being woefully underpaid.”
The Vision 2020 program, which is working to reshape Hamilton's future, is looking at the council pay issue, said Carla J. Fiehrer, co-chairman of that group's government subcommittee.
As for why she was seeking a job that pays $300 a year, she said, “I would've run if it didn't pay anything.”
But Mrs. Fiehrer said she did vote for previous council pay increases on the ballot, unlike 67 percent of the voters who gave the issue its most recent defeat last fall. She thinks confusing wording on ballots is a factor.
Her committee agrees council should receive a pay increase but hasn't decided how much, Mrs. Fiehrer said.
“I'd hate to see it get to the point where money would be a major motivation for why someone would run for council,” she said. “But at the same time I do wonder what kind of candidate selection we would have if the pay were increased.”
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