Charter proposal to double Tallahassee city commissioner pay faces likely headwinds

A city of Tallahassee charter amendment that would give a big pay raise to city commissioners — a proposal that percolated from the elected officials themselves — faces probable headwinds at the ballot box this fall.

Some city voters will be turned off by the mere idea of giving more money to elected officials, according to political experts and observers. Others may be disinclined to vote yes for reasons ranging from an iffy economy to the entrenched hostility between the two City Commission factions that's been on public display for years.

“I think it’s going to get crushed,” said Jon Ausman, who served as chair of the Leon County Democratic Party for two decades. “You don’t give people who are in disharmony a pay raise.”

The city board has been bitterly divided over the past few years, with Mayor John Dailey and Commissioners Curtis Richardson and Dianne Williams-Cox on one side and Commissioners Jeremy Matlow and Jack Porter on the other.

Besides the two sides actively campaigning against the other, they often vote 3-2 on important issues, including the pay question. Matlow and Porter voted against putting it on the ballot. Williams-Cox, who pushed for it, and Dailey and Richardson voted in favor of advancing it.

“Politically it's interesting because the City Commission has gotten some bad publicity lately,” said Carol Weissert, professor emerita of political science at Florida State University. “They can’t seem to get along and those sorts of things. The timing seems a little strange to me because to put it on the ballot and not have it pass would be kind of an embarrassment.”

Under the current system, city commissioners, with the exception of the mayor, make half the salary of Leon County commissioners, whose pay is set annually by state formula and based on population. Under the charter amendment, city commissioners would make the same as county commissioners, as the mayor does now.

The practical effect would increase the annual pay of city commissioners from roughly $45,000 to $90,000. Over time, the pay of county commissioners, and thus city commissioners and the mayor, would continue to rise as the population grows.

The proposal was a modified version of a recommendation from the city’s Charter Review Committee, which debated the pay question for weeks earlier this year. The CRC eventually voted 7-2 in favor of a plan that would allow the City Commission to set its own salary after convening a committee to study the issue. Commissioners passed on that idea.

Jared Willis, a lawyer and lobbyist who served on the CRC, backed the idea of the salary committee, which he said would have created a “thoughtful process” around the setting of commissioner pay. He said he’s not sure whether he’ll support the current proposal and has doubts the public will.

“I would not place its odds very highly,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s just going to be hard to message.”

The Leon County Democratic Executive Committee vocally opposed a charter proposal to move to single-member City Commission districts, which didn’t advance, but the party hasn’t staked out a firm position on the pay question.

“Commissioner Jack Porter opposed the pay increase while Commissioner Curtis Richardson supported it, so elected Democrats are split on the issue as I see it,” said Ryan Ray, DEC chair and aide to Matlow.

Richardson and Dailey both said in April that they weren’t sure whether they would support the pay increase themselves after voting to move it to the ballot for voters to decide. Matlow tied the issue to protracted contract negotiations between the city and firefighters, who have long sought a raise themselves.

Evan Power, chairman of both the Republican Party of Florida and the Leon County GOP, said he doesn’t think the charter amendment should or will pass.

“I don’t think giving people more money, especially politicians, the public would want,” Power said. “Secondarily, these politicians in particular have done a very horrible job on crime and many other issues that are facing our community and seem to be more determined to fight among themselves.”

Gary Yordon, who hosts “The Usual Suspects” talk show, said increasing city commissioner pay is “probably not a bad thing to do” given their responsibilities, which includes setting policy for a city with a billion-dollar budget and its own utilities. But he said it will be a hard sell.

“The problem politically is it’s tough to get people to invest in a food truck if everybody’s on a diet,” said Yordon, a former county commissioner. “People are having a tough time. It’s a very difficult time to go to the community and say double my pay.”

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee city commissioner pay raise proposal faces headwinds