- April 26, 2024
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Palm Coast Councilman Steven Nobile spoken for months about raising City Council salaries. Other City Council members are interested in making some sort of change to their pay system, too.
And although they're not yet sure what, the matter could be decided soon: City Manager Jim Landon told council members at a Jan. 26 City Council workshop that city staff would draft an ordinance — with a few areas left blank, for the council to fill in — that council members could vote on at an upcoming business meeting if they decide to take action.
None of the proposals now on the table would raise council members' salaries to anything near the pay received by County Commissioners, who receive about $50,500 — a number set by state statute — plus benefits.
And none would actually take effect until after the next election, when the council may look much different: Mayor Jon Netts has reached his term limit and can't run again, and Councilman Bill McGuire's and Councilman Jason DeLorenzo's seats are up for election.
But some of the changes proposed would more than double City Council members' current salaries of $9,600. The mayor's salary is $11,400. Council member salaries were $1,200 when the city incorporated in 1999.
As Mayor Jon Netts saw it, he said at the Jan. 26 workshop, there are four options before the council: It could raise members' base salaries, alter compensation for variables like mileage, link council salaries to something like cost-of-living increases, or add benefits like health insurance.
Nobile has in the past suggested pegging City Council members' salaries to a percentage — he suggested 70% or so — of what county commissioners make, but he backed away from that idea at the Jan. 26 council workshop, suggesting instead that the city tie council members' pay to the salary of the city's lowest paid employee, currently about $23,300. Nobile said that raising the Council's pay might make it easier for younger working people to be able to run.
Councilwoman Heidi Shipley said she went online to determine the average pay for workers in Palm Coast, and came up with the number $22,856, suggesting the city use that as council members' base pay. But she also suggested that the city do something to tie raises to some external factor, like cost of living, so that the council isn't put in the position of having to vote on its own members' pay increases in the future.
Mayor Jon Netts and Councilman Bill McGuire both said they felt that the city didn't compensate them sufficiently for mileage and for wear and tear on their cars resulting from trips on city business. Council members get a $100 a month transportation stipend. But some regularly make out of town trips in their own cars to attend city-related meetings in other counties.
DeLorenzo makes monthly trips to Daytona Beach, or instance, to attend Transportation Planning Organization meetings, representing the city. DeLorenzo had another suggestion: going back to 2007, when the council salaries were last adjusted, and adding retroactive cost of living increases.
The council may make a decision on the proposed changes at a future business meeting. The next business meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2.
"You knew what the salary was when you signed up. ... I don't think anybody got on the City Council to find themselves a full time job. ... I have suggested in the past that perhaps a cost of living adjustment might make sense. ... The other side of this, my friends, is that there are people who put in 30 hours at week at Habitat for Humanity and get nothing. There are people who put in 30 hours a week at the Humane Society and get nothing."
— JON NETTS, Palm Coast Mayor
"I went online and found that the average person working in Palm Coast would make $22,856. … I think that that’s a fair number. If that’s what the average person would make, I think that’s fair for us. … I feel like the next group (of council members) that are coming in here, we owe it to them to say, 'We need a little bit more, we deserve a little bit more, we should be getting what other cities our size are getting.'"
— HEIDI SHIPLEY, Palm Coast City Councilwoman
"I hate for people to not try to get into the (council) race because they can’t put the time in, and I don’t want them winning a race if they can’t put the time in. ... I just think we need to get up there and show that we’re serious about who’s on the council. ... More than anything, (the current council salary) was designed to get the (city) incorporation passed. ... From my perspective, it is not so much, 'Do we deserve that money or not,' but it’s more to help grow the potential pool (of candidates)."
— STEVE NOBILE, Palm Coast City Councilman
"I think that being on the City Council — I’m speaking for myself — is a labor of love, to some extent. … I don’t have a problem with the salary I get now. What I would like to see, is take the consumer price index ever year and apply that to my base rate. ... I should be able to turn in an expense report; let it come before the council. ... I don't feel real strongly about this, I gotta tell you. I signed up for this at $9,600 a year, and I'm here for the long haul. And like I said at previous meetings, I don’t expect to make money doing this, but I don’t expect to lose money doing this."
— BILL McGUIRE, Palm Coast City Councilman
"Going back retroactively to the last time it was adjusted, adding CPI from that point and catching us up to where we are now, and then adding that annual adjustment from there forward, I think that — if you want to call them the founding fathers or the pioneers of Palm Coast — they had an idea in mind, and it's been adjusted a couple times since. And I, like you, Bill (McGuire) — It’s definitely for the love, it’s for the care for your community. It's not for the money, that’s for sure. I don't believe that I'm spending more than I'm making. It's probably pretty darn close."
— JASON DeLORENZO, Palm Coast City Councilman
