Mayor, council members to receive 3% raise

Jared Leatzow, Grand Haven Tribune, Mich.
·2 min read

Oct. 16—All five members of the Grand Haven City Council, including the mayor, will soon be getting a raise.

However, the elected officials of the Board of Light & Power will not.

The city's Compensation Commission decided Thursday that members of the council and the mayor will each be receiving a 3 percent increase to their annual salary.

The previous pay for council members was $4,096 a year; the increase now makes it $4,218.88. The mayor was making $4,915.20; he will now be making $5,062.66.

The Compensation Commission is made up of three individuals elected by the City Council, each serving five-year terms. The commission meets every other year to discuss the wages for the mayor, council members and BLP trustees. Their current terms end Dec. 31 of this year.

With the J.B. Sims power plant now demolished, and plans canceled for a natural gas peaking plant on Harbor Island, the Compensation Commission wasn't sure there was still a need for the BLP board.

"It has been a difficult two years, but we don't know what their future is," commissioner Dan Ellsworth said. "I'm hard-pressed to push a raise (for BLP trustees) — not to say to line their pockets, but to extend something that maybe doesn't need to exist."

City Councilman Ryan Cummins, who attended the commission meeting Thursday, said: "I've attended a number of BLP meetings for the last couple of years. Putting on some of their hats, some of them might say they are moving into a more complex time by not running a power plant, because they are looking at a variety of different power sources, and you have to find the right mix to get the right cost. You've got to stay on it looking at different lengths of contracts ... to make sure the right financial decisions are being made."

You can view the Compensation Commission meeting at .