Roanoke City Council considers giving itself a $20,000 pay raise

Roanoke City Council members will take a final vote Monday on increasing mayoral and council member salaries by almost 90%.

During a special meeting held Friday morning, council members voted 4-1 to adopt an ordinance boosting salaries of the mayor and the city council to the maximum allowed by state law. With four votes, the council will proceed with a second reading Monday morning, and will need a majority vote of the seven-member council to pass the ordinance.

A new state law sets new, and higher, maximum pay levels for mayors and council members, based on population.

Under the new pay scale, the Roanoke mayor’s salary would increase from $25,000 to $47,000, and council members’ from $23,000 to $43,000. The raises would take effect July 1, 2025.

Roanoke isn’t alone in pursuing salary increases in response to the change in law. City councils in localities including Richmond, Portsmouth, Alexandria and Hampton already have voted themselves raises, and others, including Danville, are considering the move.

The ordinance must be adopted four months prior to the next election, which this year is Nov. 5.

Friday’s special meeting was called because the council had “overlooked” the timing provision, council member Luke Priddy said Friday evening. A public hearing was originally scheduled for July 15, he said.

In Roanoke, council and mayoral salaries were increased in 2013, and again in 2019 — both times, without a public hearing. No public hearing has been held this time, either.

“A majority of those voting today won’t benefit from this,” Priddy said during the meeting. “But I will be voting because I believe it’s the right thing to do.”

Priddy earlier this year announced he would resign from the council at the end of June. Mayor Sherman Lea and council member Trish White-Boyd are retiring at the end of their current terms.

Lea agreed, stating that the council has worked hard to get its salaries above minimum wage, which he said is “in essence, where we’ve been.”

Priddy said Friday evening that the raise could encourage more young and working-class people to join the council.

Lea, Priddy, Peter Volosin and Vivian Sanchez-Jones voted for the raises; White-Boyd was the only member present to vote against it.

Vice Mayor Joe Cobb and Stephanie Moon Reynolds were not at the meeting. Lea read a statement from Moon Reynolds that said she was “not opposed to discussion” but felt it should wait until there can be communication with the newly appointed interim city manager and staff, “which would allow ample time to consider financial implications.”

Roanoke recently named a interim city manager , Lydia Pettis Patton, and the hiring process is underway for a new permanent city manager following the abrupt resignation of Bob Cowell .

The post Roanoke City Council considers giving itself a $20,000 pay raise appeared first on Cardinal News .