<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=36r0Cx_1GWILFRA00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=36r0Cx_1GWILFRA00" width="1763" height="1175" ><figcaption>(File Photo)</figcaption></figure>For the first time since 2013, Oro Valley’s next mayor and town council are receiving pay increases when new members are seated Nov. 4.But those raises won’t be of the size proposed in a draft resolution considered by the governing board on Oct. 20.Current pay for the mayor is $12,740 for the mayor, and $10,058 for each of six council members. Outgoing Councilmember Josh Nicolson suggested pay be increased to $37,000 per year for the mayor, and to $31,000 per year for council members, bringing Oro Valley to the same level of pay as Marana provides its elected officials.In the end, the Oro Valley Town Council voted to increase the mayor’s pay to $21,863 per year, and council pay to $17,260 annually. Those figures represent what the mayor and council would have earned if previously approved “cost-of-living adjustments” had in fact been paid, according to a calculation from Chief Financial Officer Dave Gephart.Moving forward, the council decided, pay for mayor and council would be adjusted annually to a level consistent with increases provided to town employees.Paul Loomis, Oro Valley’s mayor from 1998 to 2010, shared history in writing and spoke about elected official compensation on Oct. 20.For 25 years, mayors and council members were not paid. Original compensation for elected officials was then established by ordinance in 1999. On May 3, 2006, the town council approved a resolution allowing a 2.3% cost-of-living increase for the mayor and council. It also stipulated that mayor and council would receive annual cost-of-living increases equivalent to adjustments given to town employees.A 5% COLA for mayor and council was authorized in 2007-08, a 1.5% COLA in 2008-09, and a 2.5% COLA in 2012-13.There have been no increases since.“Apparently, because the annual adjustment for the employees was not identified as a COLA, the salaries for the mayor and council were not adjusted in the proposed and approved budgets for the years following fiscal year 2012-13,” Loomis wrote.Town attorney Steven Zraick explained that staff raises have been characterized as “merit” or “across-the-board” increases, as examples ... but not “cost-of-living” increases.“We didn’t know there were supposed to be adjustments being made consistent with the town staff,” Vice Mayor Melanie Barrett said. “The issue has been neglected for 13 years. We’re correcting something that should have been happening all along.”Councilmember Mary Murphy agreed. “I don’t consider this a raise,” Murphy said. “I consider (it) the thing that was supposed to be happening the whole time.”Nicolson, who is leaving the governing board with Councilmember Joyce Jones-Ivey and Mayor Joe Winfield after eight years, brought forward the compensation proposal on Oct. 7.“Marana got a raise,” he said that evening. “We should just match it.”Nicolson said the long hours he spent on council business prompted him to use years of his vacation time, earned when he worked as an air traffic controller, to serve the community.“A lot of people think it’s volunteer, and a lot of people think it’s a full-time job” earning high compensation, Nicolson said. At $10,058 a year, “it is hard to get people to run. It’s a hard job.”“No one who does this job does it for the money, or should do it for the money,” Barrett said. “We should all do it for the love of our community, and that’s why we’re all doing it. It should be fair and possible for people to do it, and they should not need to be independently wealthy in order to participate in democracy in this way.”Barrett said Marana, Prescott Valley and Sahuarita, as comparably sized communities, offer healthcare coverage and pensions to their elected officials, at an estimated cost near $20,000 a year per individual. Oro Valley does not offer healthcare coverage nor pensions to its elected officials.“Don’t worry, we’ll still be the lowest paid town employees,” Barrett said. “I checked.”</div></body>

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For the first time since 2013, Oro Valley’s next mayor and town council are receiving pay increases when new members are seated Nov. 4. But those raises won’t be of the size proposed in a draft resolution considered by the governing board on Oct. 20. Current pay for...

Next OV council getting a pay hike

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For the first time since 2013, Oro Valley’s next mayor and town council are receiving pay increases when new members are seated Nov. 4. But those raises wo

Next OV council getting a pay hike

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