(Le Mars) — During Tuesday’s city council meeting, city council members again discussed a measure to increase the salaries of council members and the mayor. A first reading of the proposal was passed during a January council meeting. However, city councilman Rex Knapp suggested a change to the original proposal.
Knapp says under his proposal none of the council members, nor the mayor, would receive an increase of salary until the start of the year 2020. He says at that time, the new salary increases would then go into effect. Councilman John Rexwinkle says he believes the mayor should be given a pay increase, but he
doesn’t believe the council should see an increase, saying the council’s responsibilities have remained the same.
Rexwinkle then offered a motion to amend the original reading proposal that would eliminate the paragraph pertaining to the city council compensation. Councilman
Ken Nelson says he favors the increase in council members salaries, claiming among other reasons is that by being a council member, it has cost him some business.
Councilman Clark Goodchild says he opposes the measure because of its provision that allows salary increases based on time of service on the council. Goodchild says he favors term limits.
Goodchild then recommended another proposal for the council to consider.
Currently, the mayor’s salary is at $12,000 per year, and the council receives an annual salary of $6,000 per year. The first reading of the proposed salary change would increase the mayor’s salary to $18,000 per year, and the council
members would receive a salary of $9,000 which would go into effect after the council member and mayor would serve at least two consecutive terms. The city council decided to discuss the salary proposal in future meetings.
