(Atlantic) The Atlantic City Council on Wednesday approved the first reading of a pay increase for city council members and the Mayor. The Personnel and Finance Committee met on July 26, reviewed survey results, and endorsed increasing the mayor’s salary to $12,500 and the Council’s pay to $50.00 per meeting.
City Councilman Pat McCurdy says the increase was discussed at length during that July committee meeting.
It is essential to point out state law does not allow city councils to increase their compensation on a whim. All changes in compensation go into effect immediately after the next election. For example, the pay increase for the City Council would go into effect on January 1, 2024. The pay increase for the Mayor would not go into effect until after the next mayoral election, January 1, 2026.
The current salary for the mayor is $10,000, and $40.00 per meeting for a City Councilperson. Atlantic City Administrator John Lund noted the current mayoral and councilperson salary was set on October 12, 2015, and between July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2022, the consumer price index increased 32.51 percent.
Lund says using the same compensation the city utilizes for other employees, the Estherville Iowa Community Survey of communities with populations between 4,925 and 8,375, of the 18 communities responding, 13 pay council members per meeting. The median pay for council members is $50.00 or more per meeting.
Lund says of the 20 communities responding to the Mayoral pay, all paid annual salaries ranging from $3,600 to $18,000. Two cities, Creston and Washington, similar in population to Atlantic, pay $12,000 and $18,000, respectively.
