Modesto City Council votes toward raises, explores making positions full time
The Modesto City Council unanimously approved Tuesday a plan for a 6.2% raise for their positions, including mayor, upon the recommendation of the Citizen’s Salary Setting Commission.
If given final approval at a mid-May public hearing, the mayor’s salary would rise from $54,000 per year to $57,348. Council members would receive a raise from $30,000 to $31,860 per year.
Modesto’s salary setting commission made this recommendation based on strict guidelines in the city’s charter: The mayor cannot earn more than 50% of what a Stanislaus County Superior Court judge makes, which is about $248,000. A city council member, on the other hand, cannot make more than half the median family income, which is $79,891.
While salaries of the mayor and council members are more than the average Modestan’s individual yearly income — just below $33,000, according to the salary setting commission — their positions are technically part time. But the job is part time only on paper, said council members, and it can be quite demanding.
Councilmembers Jeremiah Williams, Chris Ricci, Eric Alvarez and Nick Bavaro said they average about 30 hours per week. But many weeks demand a full 40 or more. Mayor Sue Zwahlen said her job is “nonstop, 24/7” and requires more than 50 hours a week of her time.
The reality, they said, is that council members cannot rely on the position as their sole means of income.
Bavaro said he averages about 35 hours a week as a council member, including weekends, while also putting in 37 hours a week to his own business. He said the city salary was “not considered when I decided to run for council” and represents about 5.7% of his household income.
Because of the time required, council positions are basically viable only to those who are retired or “independently wealthy,” Ricci and Alvarez said.
Alvarez said this limits the pool of candidates to those who can afford to serve. Making the position full time and upping the wage would broaden access to holding office and strengthen government accountability, he added.
“If we want a city that is run at a high level, we should align expectations with compensation and treat public service as the serious, full-time responsibility it is,” Alvarez said in a statement.
Bavaro agreed that increasing the pay would give more people the opportunity to serve, but he disagreed with making it full time. He said the position should complement another job, especially if it pays decently. But he still would like to see more than just “people like myself” run for office.
“At some point in the future, I would like to see where we can pull the talent from the city of Modesto, from different ages and different backgrounds, and be able to say, ‘Yes, I’m going to run for City Council and I can afford to do so,’” Bavaro said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Williams disagreed with approving a significant raise or making the position full time, saying that running for council should “never be about the money” and that it shouldn’t be needed as a main source of income because it lasts for only a maximum of two terms.
“If there were no increases, my time, treasure and talent would still be at the forefront of serving the citizens of Modesto as your Vice Mayor/Modesto City Council,” Williams said in a statement.
Colleen Preston, vice chair of the salary-setting commission, said it considered a number of factors when making its recommendations. Ultimately, what the commission could put forward was bound by the city charter.
“Maybe there’s some way to streamline some things … look for best practices from other cities, or change our model,” Preston said. “Right now … the city manager is the one that really runs the city. And so we have to, I think, look at our whole executive structure if we’re going to start paying, you know, $150,000 for the mayor, and $70,000 for council members.”
Sandy Sutton, chair of the commission, suggested putting together a citizens task force to look for solutions to the issue, agreeing with his vice chair that the city charter ties their hands.
“There’s nothing we can do about it, because the charter can only establish those things,” said Sutton. “But, I think it’d be worth looking at.”
Tuesday’s vote accepted the salary-setting commission’s recommendation, but the raises are not official yet. The council will have to approve a resolution at a public hearing, scheduled for May 12.
