Council pay raise
In June of 2013 the Jackson, Michigan City Council voted to cut its own pay and share the pain with city employees, who were facing pay and benefit cuts and layoffs.
The Mayor’s salary was cut $600 from $12,350 to $11,750, and council members’ salaries was cut $400 from $8,250 to $7,850 for the following two years.
The cuts were recommended in May of 2013 by the Local Officers Compensation Commission and the City Council approved them by a vote of 6-1. The cuts took affect 30 days later. Population of Jackson, Michigan is 33,000, 10,000 more than Columbus. I ask again as I did in 2013, why are a couple of our council members crying about a pay raise? Not a 3- or 4- or 5-percent raise but about 18 percent. What a nerve.
Hopefully, this will be remembered come next election.
I do give much credit to Mr. Box, Gavin and Jones who showed mature wisdom in their stand against the goofy raise motion.
Mr. Box was correct: We do pay them well compared to other cities our size.
I think it was very admirable what the elected servant leaders did in Jackson, Michigan. If our mayor and council did something similar it would probably help pay for some additional help in our police department.
Raymond Gross
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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