The Aurora City Council Tuesday evening is set to vote on just how much to raise pay for aldermen beginning in 2027.
The meeting is the last chance the council will have, barring a special meeting, to vote on any compensation changes for at least another 2½ years. It follows a discussion about any pay increase that resulted in aldermen voting down a proposal for a 27% pay hike that would have taken effect in June 2027.
They then used a parliamentary maneuver to delay another vote on any kind of pay increase until the Oct. 22 full council meeting.
Aldermen seem to be in agreement, for the most part, that there should be some kind of pay raise, based on what legislators in comparable cities are paid. But there was disagreement of just how much the amount should be.
The council has been looking at compensation for aldermen for weeks, after paying for a study from consultant Korn Ferry showing where Aurora’s pay stands compared to other, similar cities.
The study showed Aurora aldermen are paid about 44% to 54% of what City Council members are paid in comparable cities.
Aldermen were originally considering a compensation change that would have given members of the council a 10% change in 2027, with 5% increases for each of the succeeding three years, through 2030.
But that was shelved in favor of a proposal for a 27% bump in 2027 that would put the salaries at $32,500 a year. As part of that proposal, the aldermen would have gotten another 5% hike in June 2028. Aldermen also get $90 for each meeting attended, and under the proposal, that would have stayed the same.
The 27% bump was based on Des Moines, Iowa; Akron, Ohio; and Richmond, Virginia, which are of similar size to Aurora, where representatives make more than $40,000 a year. Richmond in particular just raised the yearly salary from $25,000 to $45,000, city officials said.
No sitting elected officials can change their own salaries. It would not affect any of the sitting aldermen, unless they continue to run for office and are elected again in 2027.
After voting down the proposal, aldermen immediately voted to reconsider the vote.
Another proposal was made to increase pay by 10% for both 2027 and 2028, bringing the total salary to $30,148 by May 2028. It is more than the current salary, but less than it would have been at with the previous proposal.
At the time Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, moved to table any consideration of compensation. Tabling means it stays at the City Council level, but aldermen must vote to bring it off the table.
Aldermen will have to vote Tuesday to bring the proposal off the table.
While there was a Finance Committee meeting and a Committee of the Whole meeting since that last regular council meeting, the compensation was not discussed at either.
So, it is unclear exactly what aldermen will vote on Tuesday, although if they vote to bring the proposal off the table, they could amend it to whatever they want.
The council needs to approve any pay raise by the end of October.
slord@tribpub.com
