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Notice/Advertisement Title: Citizens' Commission on Elected Official Compensation Minutes
Contact Name: Kirsten Estose
Contact Telephone Number: (614) 645-2728
Contact Email Address: kmestose@columbus.gov
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The 2026 Citizens' Commission on Elected Official Compensation met for the eighth time on Thursday, April 2, at 8:30am in Columbus City Hall, Conference Room 225 (90 W Broad St, Second Floor, Columbus OH 43125). Chair Christopher Moses, Commissioner Andrea Blevins, Commissioner Liz Caslin-Turner, Commissioner Alyvia Johnson, and Commissioner Monica L. Womack were in attendance.
Call to Order
Chair Moses called the meeting to order at 8:32am. The primary purpose of this meeting is for the Commission to continue deliberations on their recommendations and to review the final report.
Discussion on Cost-of-Living-Adjustment Projections
Kirsten Estose from the City Council Legislative Research Office presented different economic models of how the current compensation of Columbus' elected officials might change depending on inflationary effects. This allowed the Commission to see how their tentative recommendations would play out in actual terms in 2030.
The Commission deliberated on these results for some time, and revised their tentative recommendations as a result. The Commission came to a tentative consensus on the following base-pay increases to take effect in 2030.
Auditor: 13%
Attorney: 13%
Mayor: 18%
Council Member: 32%
Council President: 32%
Review of Draft Report for Submission to the City Clerk
The Commission is required to submit a report and recommendations to the City Clerk by April 12, 2026. Ms. Estose shared a draft version of the report. The Commission collectively took time to read through the report and edit the document in real-time.
The Commission also discussed whether to include a letter with the report, and ultimately voted 4-1 to include a letter. Commissioner Womack was selected to draft the letter.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at approximately 10:31am.
The next meeting of the Commission will be on April 9th at 8:30am in Council Chambers in City Hall. The agenda for the meeting shall be to review any last changes to the final report and to vote to submit the report and recommendations to the City Clerk.