Danville City Council votes to more than triple members’ pay

The Danville City Council voted 6-2 Tuesday night to give itself a pay raise, more than tripling council members’ current salaries to the maximum pay allowed by a new state law.

The raise will take effect in July 2025.

The General Assembly passed a law this spring that increased the maximum pay allowed for city council members and mayors based on a city’s population. For a city of Danville’s size, the mayor is now allowed a $37,000 salary and city council members are allowed $34,000.

Right now, Danville’s mayor is paid $12,000 and city council members $10,000. These rates have been in effect since 2014.

The council last approved a raise in May 2023, increasing pay to $20,000 and $18,000 for the mayor and council members, respectively. It was scheduled to go into effect in July 2025, since state law requires an election before any pay raise can occur. The next election is this November.

But after Tuesday’s vote, salaries will be increased further, to the new maximum, next July.

During a June work session, when the council decided to put this item on the agenda, council members said their job has become more time consuming due to the city’s recent growth.

Vice Mayor Gary Miller, who voted in favor of the salary increases on Tuesday, said that other communities across Virginia are also bumping pay for their mayors and council members.

“You just about have to,” Miller said during his closing remarks at the meeting, which he attended virtually. “It’s not a full-time job, it’s a second job, and it takes up a lot of time.”

Council member Lee Vogler, who voted against the pay increase, acknowledged that the job has gotten much more time-consuming in recent years. He spends 35 to 40 hours on his council member duties weekly, he said.

This includes attending events — like ribbon-cuttings, which have become much more frequent in recent years — as well as regular city council meetings, going to meetings for other boards that council members serve on, and answering calls and emails.

Still, Vogler voted against the salary raise because he felt it was too much of an increase at one time.

“It was probably too big of a jump,” he said. “Maybe a phased-in approach would’ve been better.”

But the council probably won’t consider another raise again for years, Vogler said.

Council member Madison Whittle voted alongside Vogler against the pay increase. Council member Larry Campbell was absent.

At a public hearing Tuesday on the pay raise, no residents spoke either in favor of or against it.

Other cities around Virginia have increased salaries for their elected officials recently, too.

The Roanoke City Council voted Monday to raise the salaries of its mayor and council members, increasing them gradually to hit the maximum amount allowed by 2027. There was no public hearing about this issue in Roanoke.

Pay raises also have been approved in cities including Richmond, Alexandria, Portsmouth and Hampton.

The increased salaries in Danville will make the job more appealing to candidates, Miller said.

“It’s important if we want to attract good people to this position that we have at least a decent salary for that,” he said.

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