The Lafayette City Council Tuesday night passed the first reading of an ordinance that would give the mayor and other elected officials a 5.5-percent raise.
City Controller Mike Jones says Lafayette employees are all on a salary grid and the increase will bring the incomes of elected officials up to par with other personnel.
“[We’re] trying to get everybody caught up and the hope is that as things look better and better in the private sector, that we can entice the good people that we have to stay,” Jones says.
Councilman Perry Brown (D-3rd) was the only councilor to vote against the ordinance – he says it’s a matter of principle.
“I have a problem as a public official being able to raise my own pay and until we find another mechanism by which we can do that, I will continue to vote no on that,” Brown says.
And Jones says the mayor has turned down raises at least four times, leaving his salary just over 7-percent behind the grid. But he’d still be in line to make more than $109,000 a year – only about $2,000 less than Gov. Pence makes – if the raise is approved.
The city council will hold a public hearing on the budget Thursday at 5 p.m. in City Hall.
