Explanation
Background: This ordinance amends the Management Compensation Plan (MCP) to set salaries for City Council Members for the years 2010 and 2011. Currently, the MCP has established salaries for these positions only through 2009. It is necessary to review and set future salaries before the beginning of new terms of office in January 2008. Pursuant to City Charter Section 15, salaries for these positions cannot be increased during an elected official's term of office.
In the year 2005, one-time pay adjustments of 9.4% (Ordinance 2068-2005) were made for the City Auditor and City Attorney, effective in 2006. And in 2006 (Ordinance 2265-2006), a one-time pay adjustment of 9% was made for the Mayor, effective in 2008. In all cases, annual increases were of 3% for other years.
In each case, these adjustments were made in part in response to adjustments implemented in non-elected City positions as a result of the Hay Study, an extensive review and analysis of the city's job classifications and responsibilities, including a market survey with comparable municipal and private entities. The Study, periodically updated since, and its implementation altered the traditional comparative pay scales of non-elected positions vis a vis elected officials. These adjustments More importantly, the one-time adjustments to salaries for selected elected officials reflected the considerable judgment and oversight responsibilities exercised by those individuals on behalf of Columbus citizens; the fact that each of those positions serve in an important and critical advisory capacity to cabinet officials; and the fact that as separately elected officials in their own right, these officials are accountable to the citizens.
A 2007 review of salaries for city councils among Columbus and the six cities of closest population reveals that Columbus is more than $12,000 below the average pay for the position of City Council President and more than $10,600 below the average for the po...
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