Mayoral pay raise of 50% advised

Atlanta’s next mayor would earn $225,000 a year —- more than 50 percent higher than Shirley Franklin’s current pay of $147,500 —- under a compensation plan recommended to the Atlanta City Council Thursday by a citizen committee.

The Elected Officials Compensation Commission said the mayor who takes office in 2010 should get a substantial pay increase because the job oversees a work force of more than 7,000 employees and an annual budget of about $1 billion.

The citizens’ group was appointed by Franklin, the City Council, the Atlanta Board of Education and the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board.

“If you do what you always do and you give what you always give, you get what you always get,” said commission chairman John Gordon, explaining the need to attract highly qualified candidates by offering higher salaries.

The commission looked at 10 cities of similar size, including Boston and Memphis, and found Atlanta’s mayoral pay ranked fifth.

Because Atlanta is a “world-class city,” the panel said, it should pay much more than Franklin’s current pay.

Asked to look at the pay of City Council members, its president and the city school board, the panel recommended a cost-of-living adjustment for school board members, who make $14,800 a year.

The commission did not recommend raising the council members’ or president’s salaries, $39,473 and $41,000 a year, respectively.

The commission said it could not consider the council’s salary without considering other factors, such as its staff budget and expense allowances. One member, Michael Holiman, noted Atlanta’s school board members don’t have as many staff members as the council.

Members said they were troubled, in part, by a report in Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the council spent $824,690 during the past two fiscal years on items such as hiring relatives to do city work.

Councilwoman Felicia Moore said the roles of council and school board members are different because the council deals with myriad issues, such as crime, trash pickup and street maintenance while school board members primarily handle educational matters.

The recommendations will be sent within the next week to the school board and council, which ultimately will vote on the salaries. Any changes will take effect in 2010, when the next mayor, council and school board are sworn in to office.

The commission received a $10,000 budget to do its work, but declined to spend it, members said, because of the city’s budget challenges.