Sometimes money talks.
Six months after turning down an $8,000-per-year pay raise, Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene has decided to start taking the full amount, Chief Financial Officer James Brigham confirmed to The Dispatch on Wednesday.
In September, the council voted 4-2 to give itself and Mayor Keith Gaskin pay raises, effective the first pay period after the meeting. Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart, Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens, Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard and Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones voted in favor, with Greene and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco voting no.
The raises bumped the council members from $18,200 a year to $26,200, and the mayor’s salary went from $83,000 to $93,000.
However, Gaskin, Greene and DiCicco all publicly said they would not accept the raises and would continue working at the old rate of pay.
At the time the council approved the raises, it had just voted to give a 4 percent raise to all city workers. It also approved bringing the city’s lowest-paid workers up to a minimum of $12.50 an hour.
To approve their own immediate raises, the council had to amend the municipal code. Previously, it only allowed raises to be given to the next council, not a sitting council.
To date, both Greene and DiCicco have forfeited about $4,000 in pay. However, Greene decided that was enough.
“I thought, ‘I am working as hard as everyone else,’” Greene told The Dispatch. “I’ve made my point. I’ve gone six months not getting a pay raise. … If it’s there, I think it’s just fair that I get my share.”
Brigham confirmed Greene approached him on Tuesday about accepting the raise.
“(Greene) came to me … and said he’s made his point and he wants the salary adjustment from here on out,” Brigham said. “I didn’t ask him why. He just said he made his point.”
When asked via text message Wednesday afternoon if Greene’s decision changed her position on taking the raise, DiCicco replied simply, “No.”
Gaskin, too, said nothing had changed for him.
“Part of the rationale behind it was it was not the salary I was elected to,” Gaskin said. “Any raise that would come to the mayor would come after the next election. I will not take the raise. I made that commitment when it happened, and I’ll stick to it.”
The forfeited pay is remaining in the payroll account, Brigham said.
“The money is just sitting there as an overage in the budget right now,” he said. “Payroll will just be under budget (at the end of the fiscal year).”
Although there was some talk at the time about the unused payroll being donated to charity, that wasn’t feasible, Brigham said.
“At the time they talked about diverting it, but the city can’t just donate money,” Brigham said. “If they wanted to donate the money to charity, they would have to accept it and then turn around and donate it (themselves).”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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