Mayor and Council Should Get Raises, Committee Says

Both the Mayor and City Council members should get their scheduled $500 annual raise, the Compensation Review Committee will say at this evening's work session.

In March the City formed an ad hoc committee to "review information and data concerning the compensation of elected officials of other jurisdictions in the region and the workload of the Mayor and City Council, and to provide recommendations to the Mayor and City Council as to whether any adjustments are appropriate by June 30, 2011," according to the resolution.

The committee met twice in April and, after comparing the workload and compensation levels of Gaithersburg elected officials with those in surrounding jurisdictions, decided that the Council should get their scheduled $500 raise in November.

This would bump the Mayor's salary to $19,500 and the Council's salary to $16,000.

The Committee tonight will also recommend another increase in November 2012 of $500, bringing the Mayor to $20,000 and Council members to $16,500.

The committee held off on making recommendations for November 2013, saying it would prefer to wait until more accurate economic indicators were available.

There are three appointed members of the Committee and one staff liaison.

Edward (Ty) Lawson, the Chief Construction Engineer at Bechtel Power Corp in Frederick, is the chairman.

The other members are Mackenzie Milo, a former government worker and HR director, and Julius Persensky, a member of the first Compensation Review Committee in 2007.

Margaret Daily, the City's Director of Human Resources, is the staff liaison.