Minutes - 2016/06/13 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council June 13, 2016 Regular Meeting Page 12 were to approve a pay increase, it would not take effect until January of 2017. He requested direction from the Council on how to proceed. Mayor Flaherty believed that the time and effort given by each Councilmember warranted a pay increase. He stated the current monthly stipend was less than minimum wage. He indicated he would support a reasonable increase. Council Member Hull asked if an increase could be made in 2017 and 2018. City Administrator Ericson explained that an increase could be approved for 2017 and then the future Council could take action again in 2018 for 2019. Council Member Meehlhause believed an increase would be timely. He recommended the Mounds View pay be comparable with median paying cities. He supported the Mayor being paid $7,500 and Councilmembers being paid $6,000, noting this would only impact the budget by $2,500. Council Member Mueller believed that after 13 years a raise would be in order. Council Member Gunn agreed with Council Member Meehlhause’s suggestion as this would get the City to median pay for the Mayor and Councilmembers. Mayor Flaherty feared that raising his pay 19% would be frowned upon by the public. He recommended a 5% raise across the board and that another pay raise be considered in 2018. Council Member Gunn reviewed the amount neighboring communities paid their Mayor and City Councilmembers. She reported at this time, the Mayor is paid $6,300 and the Councilmembers are paid $5,700 per year. She supported the raise as suggested by Council Member Meehlhause given the fact the Mayor and Council has not received a raise in 13 years. City Administrator Ericson encouraged the Council to get the pay closer to the average given the fact another pay raise may not be approved for another five to ten years. Mayor Flaherty encouraged the Council to continue to think on this topic and requested staff to bring it back at a future meeting. City Administrator Ericson stated the other issue that needs to be addressed by the Council was the EDA levy for 2017. He explained in November of last year, the Council amended the EDA’s enabling language to allow the EDA to levy dollars. He reviewed the maximum amount that could be levied by the EDA stating this could not be more than $161,236 and would cause a 3% levy increase. He stated at this time, the City could not support economic development as it did not have the funds. He asked how the Council wanted to proceed with this issue. Council Member Hull asked if the extra levy would include personnel salaries. City Administrator Ericson described how the City covered Business Development Coordinator Beeman’s salary was covered with increment from TIF District 5.