The Langley City Council is considering a lower salary for the mayor and higher stipends for council members.
During a meeting this week, Chris Carlson, the chairperson for the city’s Finance and Personnel Commission, presented recommendations from the citizen-led committee.
Taking into account the hiring of a city administrator/clerk, which will relieve the burden of the mayor’s current duties, paired with data from a 2022 mayor salary survey looking at comparable jurisdictions, the committee recommends reducing the Langley mayor’s annual salary from $55,000 to $7,704, with no benefits from the city provided. As part of the recommendation, the mayor’s salary is eligible for a cost-of-living rate increase passed by the council as part of the yearly budget process.
If approved, the change in salary wouldn’t take effect until the mayor’s new term in 2024.
“We think that coming in at the median rate for cities in this population range makes sense,” Carlson said.
The council, however, felt that a monthly salary of $642 for the mayor was far too low to be acceptable. Councilmember Rhonda Salerno suggested $1,000 per month, or $12,000 annually, which the others agreed with.
Councilmember Thomas Gill pointed out that even at current compensation levels, anybody wishing to be mayor is either going to have to be retired with a significant pension or have a spouse or partner they can share the burden with or have a second job.
“Every person who runs for mayor is different. Everyone has different ideas of what the job entails,” he said. “It would be unfair to cut ambitious people off at the knees who wish to be mayor but do not have the luxury of being privileged … to not need to make a living wage in this position.”
As a compromise, Gill suggested that the mayor should make a minimum salary of $12,000, leaving the door open for future adjustments.
Mayor Scott Chaplin said that while he didn’t think $1,000 per month seemed enough, it’s a good starting point and it’s better than $642.
The Finance and Personnel Commission also recommended slightly higher stipends for the council. Currently, each council member receives $50 per month. The committee is suggesting $40 per meeting that is attended, with a cap of four meetings per month. The recommendation also comes from survey data and wouldn’t take effect until the next term for each seat on the council.
Carlson said the commission took into consideration some equity issues, such as parents who need to be able to afford child care in order to attend meetings. This was something Public Works Director Randi Perry brought to the council’s attention recently.
“This is a big barrier for any parent that is considering running for office to know whether they can afford that,” Carlson said.
Perry spoke during the meeting to say that finding child care is a whole other issue, and that she wasn’t sure it should be a determining factor in raising council pay.
Carlson acknowledged that while the increase is not going to totally meet that need of parents, the commission did its best to stay within the bounds of what other cities are compensating their council.
Councilmember Gail Fleming suggested $50 per meeting attended.
“The less it’s paid, there’s the sort of assumption that it’s not really that significant,” she said, adding that people living on fixed incomes would also appreciate the increase.
Preferring a blanket monthly stipend, Gill came up with $125 per month for each member of the council. The others agreed it was a sound idea.
In the end, the council directed the mayor and the commission to move forward with putting together ordinances to be presented at a future meeting with a minimum $12,000 annual salary for the mayor and $125 monthly stipends for each council member.
