Accessibility and equity were core themes for Tuesday night’s Bloomington City Council special session regarding pay raises for elected officials. The current proposal would nearly double council members pay to over 45-thousand-dollars a year.
Councilmember Dave Rollo said he’s concerned that the raise would appear self-serving in the eyes of the public, “but, I feel a very modest increase would be completely defensible and rational and could be easily explained to the public and our constituents and so forth.”
Mayor Kerry Thomson previously explained to WFIU/WTIU News that the proposed raise is “out of line” and that the issue should wait until an election year. Councilmember Hopi Stosberg strongly disagreed during Tuesday night’s meeting.
“I think that it’s really pretty abhorrent. The idea that the mayor is willing to veto any possible thing that potentially increases equity and pay amongst elected officials,” Stosberg explained.
Several members of the council said they hope a significant pay raise would encourage more residents to run for political office. The council is expected to vote on the proposal during tonight’s city council meeting.
This meeting is scheduled to be the last regular meeting of the year.