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WARREN -- A referendum petition regarding the recently approved city pay raise legislation is nearing the number of signatures its circulators are seeking.
According to the Secretary of State's Ohio Questions and Issues Handbook provided by the Trumbull County Board of Elections, "The exercise of the referendum on any such issue requires a valid and sufficient petition signed by 10% of the electors of the municipality, based upon the total number of votes cast in that municipality at the most recent general municipal election, that is filed with the municipality's executive authority during the 30-day period after passage of the ordinance."
Councilman Ken MacPherson, D-at-Large, said the petition, which he signed and initiated, must receive 944 valid signatures to be sent to Auditor Vince Flask's
office within 30 days of the adoption of the ordinance.
The pay raise legislation was adopted on Nov. 8.
MacPherson said as of Tuesday, the petition has received 860 signatures with 12 more petitions still to come in.
"We're right on pace to hit that," MacPherson said.
"We should be submitting the requisite number of signatures."
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.
The pay raises will increase the salaries by more than $260,145 in 2024.
MacPherson said he generally is in favor of pay raises and that he thinks they are needed, especially for council. However, he opposes this specific legislation.
He called the pay raise legislation "obscene" and "obnoxious."
MacPherson described the pay raises as "problematic."
He argued that the ordinance was in violation of Ohio Revised Code section 731.07, which states "The salary of any office of a city shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he was elected or appointed."
Warren City Councilman and finance committee chairman Greg Greathouse, D-3rd Ward, said the section of ORC is not a concern.
He cited recent legislation approved by the city of Niles that increases public officials' salaries as his reasoning.
MacPherson said the public has been enthusiastic about supporting the referendum.
"We have almost 40 people who have signed up to circulate," he said. "That's a huge amount of community involvement, civic involvement, so we're excited about that."
MacPherson said he hopes to have all of the signatures submitted to the auditor's office by4 p.m. Thursday. He said it might be the following day depending on when all the paperwork is complete.