City Council Pay Raises

Today' s paper contained District 4 Councilor's response to the projected pay raise:


District 4 Councilor Barbara G. Haller, a retired electrical engineer, said she supports Mr. Murray’s proposal, because she believes higher pay would allow more people without independent means to serve on the council. She said the current pay does not make up for the long hours, many night meetings and work in the community that being a councilor entails.

“We’re talking about fairly low dollars compared to the overall budget,” she said. “For getting people to run for office, especially in District 4, $15,000 doesn’t cut it.” The extra pay would be “a more adequate representation of the time and energy it takes to do council work,” Ms. Haller said.