Panel calls for pay increases for Modesto council, mayor. Why 1 person says it’s not enough
A city panel is recommending the annual pay for Modesto’s elected officials be increased from $24,000 to $30,000 for the City Council and from $43,200 to $54,000 for the mayor.
These could be the first increases since 2008, when the City Council increased the compensation from $9,600 for council members and the mayor to what it is today.
The Citizens Salary Setting Commission held a public hearing Friday regarding its recommendations. Only two people attended the hearing, and only one of them spoke: Lindsay Bird, chairwoman of the city’s Equity Commission.
Bird said she appreciated the commission’s recommendations but had hoped it would recommend the maximum allowed under the City Charter. That’s $36,688 for a council member and $119,239 for the mayor.
Those amounts are based on the charter requirement that council pay cannot be more than half of the median family income for the Modesto metro area, and the mayor’s cannot be more than half of a Stanislaus County Superior Court judge.
Bird said the Equity Commission will continue to advocate for City Council members and the mayor to be paid a living wage. That would let people from all socioeconomic backgrounds serve in elected office, not just candidates who are retired, wealthy or otherwise economically secure.
“People from diverse lived experiences bring diverse perspectives,” Bird told commission members.
In reaching its recommendations, the Salary Setting Commission looked at what other cities pay their council members and mayors. It also considered the Modesto positions as part-time.
But Modesto’s council members and mayor all said in a previous Bee story that serving as an elected official representing a city of about 218,000 residents is a full-time job between their official and unofficial duties. That includes preparing for and attending meetings, public events, meeting with constituents and more.
For instance, Councilman Nick Bavaro is passionate about alleviating homelessness in Modesto. So he has gone out with homeless advocates to meet with homeless people and has visited other cities to see what they are doing to address homelessness.
The current council consists of a retiree (Mayor Sue Zwahlen), business owners (Bavaro, David Wright and Jeremiah Williams), one married to a medical professional (Rosa Escutia-Braaton’s husband is an orthopedic surgeon), and two with flexible jobs (Chris Ricci is a partner in a digital marketing firm and Eric Alverez has a hybrid job with some of his work performed over Zoom.)
Increasing the pay above the current maximums would require the City Council to ask voters to approve amending the City Charter.
The Salary Setting Commission has issued what it is calling its initial recommendations. It will hold another public hearing at 6 p.m. April 11 in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St. The commission then will meet the next day at 11 a.m. in room 2001 in Tenth Street Place to determine its final recommendations.
The commission will present its recommendations to the City Council on April 23. The council can accept the recommendations or approve salary increases lower than the recommendations.
