Cuyahoga County Council members voted 7-4 to raise council salaries by 15.5 percent, starting in 2019.
Salaries will rise from the current $45,000 a year to $52,000 a year for the part-time job. The Council President’s annual salary will remain at $55,000, but legislation passed on Tuesday requires that amount to remain at $3,000 above the salaries of other council members.
In comparison, council members in Summit County make about $24,000, or 20 percent of the County Executive’s salary.
The legislation also allows for raises equal to or less than the “average percentage increase, if any, applied to the salaries of the non-bargaining County employees within the County Executive’s organization and departments” or based on the Consumer Price Index in the preceding year.
“This job is certainly more than a part-time job, there’s no question about that,” District 11 Councilwoman Sunny Simon said, although she voted against it, she said “because of the timing."
“I do believe that it is good for the county. Any person that’s called me. I’ve explained the framing of the 15 percent. They’ve changed their mind. Now, not all of them agreed, but they understood when I talked about the 8 years,” District 4 Councilman Charles Germana said.
“I believe hat the 15 percent pay raise is not appropriate in the economy. It’s still going through the early stages of recovery and I believe it sets a bad visually impression for those still suffering economically in our county,” District 6 Councilman Jack Schrod said.
Here’s how everyone voted:
- Anthony Hairston - yes
- Sunny Simon - no
- Dave Greenspan - no
- Dale Miller - yes
- Charles Germana - yes
- Michael Gallagher - no
- Jack Schron - no
- Yvonne Conwell - yes
- Pernel Jones - yes
- Shontel Brown - yes
- Dan Brady - yes
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