The Aurora City Council voted down a proposed 27% pay increase for aldermen Tuesday night and used a parliamentary maneuver to delay another vote until their next meeting later this month.
Aldermen will further discuss the issue at Thursday’s Finance Committee meeting and at the Oct. 15 Committee of the Whole meeting before any action can be taken at the full council meeting Oct. 22.
“I voted to table because I wanted to get it right,” said Ald. Carl Franco, 5th Ward, chair of the Finance Committee, which spent weeks looking at aldermanic compensation. “We need to find that sweet spot between what the aldermen want (and) what people will support.”
The council has been looking at the compensation issue for weeks after evaluating a study from consultant Korn Ferry that laid out where Aurora’s pay stands compared to similar cities.
Data showed Aurora aldermen are paid about 44% to 54% of what city council members are paid in comparable cities.
Aldermen initially considered a compensation change that would have given members of the council a 10% raise in 2027 followed by 5% increases for annually through 2030.
But at last week’s Committee of the Whole meeting, aldermen voted 8-3 to bring a different proposal to the council at this week’s meeting. Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, made the case that a 10% hike was not enough of a bump and the city would still lag behind what other municipalities pay.
Des Moines, Iowa; Akron, Ohio; and Richmond, Virginia — all of which are of similar size to Aurora — pay their elected representatives more than $40,000 a year, Bugg said. Richmond just raised its yearly salary from $25,000 to $45,000, Bugg said.
Based on that information, aldermen put forward a 27% increase, which would not kick in until June 2027, to bring Aurora’s yearly aldermanic salaries to $32,500. As part of the proposal, aldermen would receive another 5% raise in June 2028. No other increases would be considered until 2026.
In addition to the annual salary, Aurora aldermen also receive $90 for each meeting they attend. That would not change under any of the proposals.
Because sitting elected officials cannot change their own salaries, the increase would not to into effect until after the 2027 election.
When the issue was put to a vote, however, the proposed 27% increase failed by a 6-5 vote. Ald. Brandon Tolliver, 7th Ward, was absent from the meeting.
Voting to defeat the measure were Alds. Dan Barreiro, 1st Ward; Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward; William Donnell, 4th Ward; Michael Saville, 6th Ward; Ron Woerman, at large; and Franco.
Woerman said he voted against the proposal because he disagreed “with how we arrived at the numbers.”
Aldermen should look at the entire compensation package, which not only includes the salaries but the per diem amount for meetings attended and benefits, which are the same as those given to city employees, he said.
“We deserve a raise, but it’s how we got to it,” he said.
Franco immediately moved to reconsider, which he is allowed to do as a member of the prevailing side. The move to reconsider was approved 7-4, which Mesiacos, Bugg, Woerman and Ald. John Laesch, at large, voting against.
Franco intended to propose an increase of 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 the $34,125 it would have been under the previous proposal.
Bugg immediately moved to table any consideration of compensation. The action means it stays at the City Council level, but aldermen must vote to bring it off the table.
The soonest it could be be considered and vote on is Oct. 22, if aldermen vote to take it off the table.
Bugg said he moved to table it because Tolliver was absent. All 12 aldermen should be present for the vote, he said.
slord@tribpub.com
