Published: June 23, 2009 10:14 am      

Pay for council on hold

Though cleared by voters last year, officials opt to wait – at least for now

San Marcos — The checks won’t be in the mail for San Marcos’ mayor and city council, at least not in the immediate future.

The council voted 4-2 at their June 16 meeting not to approve a resolution that would have compensated Mayor Susan Narvaiz at the rate of $750 a month and council members $500.

The measure could be re-introduced in the future, but because it wasn’t tabled with instructions that it be brought back at a specific date, the timetable is open, Assistant City Attorney Andy Quittner said.

Voters gave the OK for elected officials to set their own pay scale in November 2008. Currently, they receive no compensation, though the mayor is allowed $16,000 in reimbursable expenses and council members $10,000.

Place 1 Council member Kim Porterfield, who voted against the compensation, said now is the wrong time, citing both the “uncertain economic times” and the city’s budget cycle.

“We’re developing the budget right now and I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to pay ourselves until we have an idea of what impact on staff and citizens there’s going to be,” she said.

While Porterfield said she agrees there should be “some sort of compensation,” in part because it would widen the field of potential candidates for public office, the measure as written was too much “for the size of our city and where we were.” When she first ran for office, she noted, the deal was unpaid public service.

Place 4 Council member Chris Jones said he voted for the proposal because it “levels the playing field” by “giving every citizen the opportunity to serve.”

Jones was first elected while still a student at Texas State University and said his first post-graduation position was at an hourly job.

Hours he spent attending required functions were essentially “hours I wasn’t working,” he said. “It was hard. It shouldn’t be that hard, that much a burden on a council member who should attend certain things and donate to certain charities. Those are all things a council member should have the opportunity to do, but starting out, I had to say no to a lot of that stuff.”

Compensation for municipal elected officials varies widely in Central Texas. Lockhart, which has a population of only $13,613, pays its mayor $500 monthly and council members, $250, plus $50 monthly for Internet and a $333.33 car allowance.

College Station, conversely, has a population of 90,897 but pays no compensation to either the mayor or council members. Elsewhere in Hays County, Buda, with a population of 6,000, pays its mayor $75 per meeting and council members $50 per meeting. Kyle’s mayor and council all get $50 per meeting in the city of 25,322.

Porterfield noted that because San Marcos’ population is in excess of 50,000, there are even additional duties that elected officials must perform, like manning an extra seat on CAMPO (Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization).

“I think we need to discuss more the amount, and also the timing,” Porterfield said.

Jones said that if he were to get $500 monthly, he would use it to hire “someone to come in and help me manage a little bit of my schedule.”

He noted that San Marcos council members don’t get staff or offices.

“I do think compensation would make (public office) more reachable for all San Marcos citizens,” Jones said, “especially seeing that the citizens recognized compensation would help.”