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WARREN -- City council Wednesday voted 8-2 to give pay increases to city officials, including city council in the future, but there could be an effort to circulate petitions to rollback the raises through a referendum vote.
Voting in favor of the pay adjustment legislation were Todd Johnson, D-1st Ward; Greg Greathouse, D-3rd Ward; James Shaffer, D-4th Ward; Ashley McBride, D-5th Ward; Cheryl Saffold, D-6th Ward; Ron White, D-7th Ward and at-Large Democrats Helen Rucker and Gary Steinbeck.
Andrew Herman, D-2nd Ward, Ken MacPherson, D-at Large, voted no.
Although he does not vote unless there is a tie on council, council President John Brown said he did not support the legislation.
"I do not concur with the members of council who sponsored this legislation," he said.
The ordinance increases council members' salaries by 89% to $20,974 per year over their current salary of $11,109 per year.
According to the ordinance, the mayor's salary must be 1% higher than the base salary of the highest-paid, wage-earning employee in the city. At no time will the mayor's salary be lower than 1% above the base pay of the city's highest paid official, the legislation states.
Other salaries of city officials then would be based on a percentage of the mayor's salary.
Based on current salaries in the city, Mayor Doug Franklin would see his salary increase from $87,796 in 2023 to $98,820 in 2024 and $104,873 by 2025. As the salary of the mayor would change, so would all other employees under Franklin.
Greathouse introduced the legislation two months ago as a way to adjust the salaries of elected officials and others in Warren city government for the first time in 15 years, noting the cost of living has risen in that time period by 42%.
PETITION CIRCULATION
Greathouse said he is aware the Warren Deserves Better groupcould begin circulating petitions to roll back the salary adjustments, forcing a referendum vote in the future.
"This legislation will address the pay iniquities in Warren while providing a mechanism to respond to the financial realities of the future. Since the raises are linked to union contracts, if there isn't money to provide the union employee a pay increase in the future, there won't be money for elected officials either," Greathouse said.
MacPherson said after the meeting the public should have the right to vote on the ordinance as a referendum.
"I am not a fan of this for a number of reasons. I feel it is messy legislation of taking five pieces of legislation and making them into one. We are changing nomenclature from being a yearly salary to a formula. I find that to be problematic and no other city that does that for elected officials. I want to let the voters decide on this and will go through with the paperwork for a referendum petition," MacPherson said.
He said the referendum paperwork and petition would eventually be given to the city auditor.
"Let the people decide," he said.
OPPOSING VIEWS
Resident and former 2nd Ward Councilman Al Novak said he is opposed to the raises because they are too high. He said in the past such raises would have been put on the ballot for the public to vote on.
Said resident Kenneth Beachler, "you are asking for pay increases in your wages. If you want that then have the courtesy to give us something back."
Herman said there are streets in his ward that haven't been paved in 25 years and dangerous sidewalks that need repaired first before pay raises.
He said alternatives should have been looked at.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to indicate the accurate cost of living increases over the past 15 years.