Denver City Council members are wading into treacherous waters by considering a hefty 10.3 percent raise for the city’s elected officials.
It may seem like the economy has turned and Denver is poised for nothing but good fortune. And there’s some truth in that outlook. But even though 2014 was the best year of job growth nationally in 15 years, wages have mostly remained stagnant.
City rules allow the council every four years to adjust the pay for the coming terms for council members, the mayor, auditor and clerk and recorder. Council president Chris Herndon asked to see the maximum amount allowed by charter, which is pegged to what Career Service workers gained between from 2011 and 2014. Thus the 10.3 percent.
Such a raise would provide council members a $91,915 annual salary, up from $83,332. The council president would earn an additional $11,000.
The auditor and clerk would earn $148,061, up from $134,235. And the mayor’s salary would increase to $171,197, up from $155,211.
says that in 2013, Denver government employees earned, on average, $57,460. says the average annual wage in the Denver area was $52,104 in 2014.
Serving in public office should not be an exercise in austerity, but neither should it pay too far above what the average citizen earns in a year. And our problem with this pay plan mainly concerns the City Council.
Denver is the only major Colorado city that pays its council a full-time wage. And while its members may deserve increases, it appears they are trying to make up ground lost because their raises have lagged behind those of the average city worker since 2003.
At the very least, the council should adopt a less dramatic hike and phase it in.
That would look less greedy and ill-conceived at a time when many people outside city hall are not getting such increases.
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