The Riverside Board of Aldermen is still mulling over proposed changes to elected official salaries, which have remained stagnant for nearly 30 years.
At the Tuesday, Sept. 19 board meeting, city administrator Brian Koral presented some possible scenarios for updating elected officials’ pay. Earlier this month, Koral said the compensation for elected officials had last been adjusted in 1995 – and prior to that it was set in 1976.
The current rates are $225 per meeting for the mayor and $100 per meeting for aldermen, with a maximum of five meetings per month. The city averages about 30 meetings per year.
The city of North Kansas City recently reviewed their own elected official compensation and conducted a regional study, so Riverside officials have used NKC’s research to inform their own.
Following inflation, Koral said the mayor’s pay could be increased to $425 and aldermen to $185 per meeting. Any pay change would only become effective at the beginning of a new term in office. So seats filled in 2024 would be the first eligible for the new pay schedule.
Last week, a preliminary recommendation was made to change the pay to a flat monthly rate instead of a per-meeting payment. The suggested rates are $1,200 per month for the mayor and $524 per month for aldermen.
Aldermen said they believed the mayor’s rate was still low, and suggested staff consider other options to increase the mayor’s pay. Current mayor Kathy Rose takes on various activities outside of her meeting duties and aldermen were concerned a future mayor may not deserve the higher rate.
“At the current rate or the future rate, none of you are here for the money,” Koral said.
Aldermen suggested a bump from the suggested $14,400 per year for the mayor to $18,000 annually.
There was also some concern that a flat rate instead of a per-meeting rate could encourage a future board member to take advantage of the monthly rate and skip meetings.
Koral said it was just a suggestion and the pay had been calculated per-meeting for decades so continuing to do so was not a burden.
The board will continue to consider options with a plan to approve a final pay schedule before December.