Islamorada’s seven-person Charter Review Committee is in favor of a ballot initiative to bump council members’ pay.
Since the early 2000s, village council members have received $1,000 a month. A proposal approved 7-0 by the committee at a March 4 meeting recommends an increase to $1,500 a month with an annual cost of living adjustment using the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers. It’s primarily used by the Social Security Administration to calculate annual cost of living adjustments for benefits.
Ultimately, the recommendation would need council’s approval before heading to the voters for who have the final say at the November election.
Committee member Craig McBay has been an advocate of bumping council members’ pay since the first meeting on Jan. 26. He’s acknowledged how much time is put into the job — from 20 to 40 hours a week — while also saying it could help attract working members in the community.
“It obviously takes a lot of time to do the job,” he said. “For somebody who’s working and may have to give up time from work, having some compensation to make up for that – say I’m a fisherman and now I have to cut out ‘x’ number of fishing trips – that might just help fill the gap.”
Several members backed a monthly pay bump to $2,000, or $24,000 a year. Ultimately the committee believed $1,500 a month, or annual pay of $18,000, was reasonable, especially when comparing Islamorada’s neighboring municipality in Marathon, which pays its council members $18,000 a year.
Committee member Roger Young said an increase could bring more people, and perhaps younger individuals, into village races. He said he spoke to former council members who said the job takes an average of 35 to 40 hours a week, and sometimes more. Committee member Joe Roth said research he did on council pay in other municipalities showed $1,500 a month as the bare minimum.
“I could give an argument for more based on where we’re located. There definitely needs to be some sort of increase,” he said.
Vice chair Susan Raffanello said she wasn’t opposed to some increase since there hasn’t been one in many years. In comparison to other municipalities, $18,000 a year was an outlier, but she said the cost of living in Monroe County may support it.
Chairman Ty Harris said he’d like to see more young people have the chance to serve on the council. And while it may get shot down by voters, Harris reiterated councilman Steve Friedman’s words from a prior meeting to do “what’s right for the village and not what they think will pass.”
Compensation for council members was originally set at $300 until 2005, when the council approved an ordinance to pay $1,000 per month. The new pay took effect in March 2006 following voter approval and has remained at $1,000 since then.
