Council to try again to give themselves 80 percent pay raise
The Richmond City Council will once again attempt to increase its pay by 80 percent at its January 7 meeting.
The council previously floated the idea in February 2024.
According to a staff report, Richmond’s elected officials have not received a cost-of-living increase since 2007. The proposed increase will make their compensation "equitable and commensurate with comparable cities,” the report says.
Soren Hemmila
If approved, the increase would raise the mayor’s compensation by $37,200 from $46,500 to $83,700, while councilmembers would see a $13,464 increase from $16,830 to $30,294. Councilmembers also currently receive a $300 monthly allowance, while the mayor gets $350.
Richmond’s mayor and councilmembers would become the second-highest-paid among Bay Area cities of similar size — behind only Berkeley, according to a Bay Area Cities Council Compensation Survey.
The increase is the maximum allowable under recently amended Senate Bill 329, five percent per year, non-compounding for 16 years. This proposed increase has an estimated fiscal impact of $117,984 to the General Fund.
City council pay in other Contra Costa County cities varies from no compensation in cities like Lafayette and Moraga to $1,900 monthly in Antioch.
Last August, the Antioch City Council voted to increase its pay from $1,604 to $1,900, with a total salary of $22,800 for the year.
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According to a city council compensation survey, Bay Area cities with population sizes between 100,000 and 200,000 range from $650 in Fairfield to $5,633 in Berkeley.
Bay Area City Council Compensation Survey
The City of Richmond Charter’s Article III-A Section 6 states that an ordinance to raise the mayor’s monthly salary requires four affirmative votes from City Councilmembers, excluding the mayor. The ordinance becomes effective 30 days after its final passage and adoption.
The agenda report was prepared by City Attorney Dave Aleshire, Chief Assistant City Attorney Shannon Moore, Deputy City Manager Nickie Mastay, and Human Resources Director Sharron Taylor. However, it remains murky who first advocated for the council pay increase.
In response to Grandview Independent’s public records requests, city officials claimed the information was "exempt from disclosure because the privacy interests of individuals involved outweigh the public interest served by disclosing personal information."
Assistant City Attorney Christopher Dykzeul said the bulk of communications deliberating wage increases, the amounts, and the timing are exempt under a provision of the government code for deliberative processes and would not be released.
“The exemption applies to internal discussions amongst decision makers that lead to a final decision,” Dykzeul told Grandview in an April 25, 2024 email. “So a request for communications discussing prospective wage increases would render responsive records that are encompassed within that exemption and withheld.”
According to the City of Richmond website, city council members are not full-time city officials and retain their positions in private industry, business, other professions, or personal enterprise.
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