Raises Approved for Saline City Council, Mayor

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Saline City Council voted 4-2 to approve salary increases for council members and the mayor.

Council members will see their annual salary increase from $3,200 to $3,350 in 2021 and $3,500 in 2022. The mayor's salary will increase from $4,800 to $4,950 in 2021 and $5,100 in 2022.

The salary increases were recommended by the city's Local Officers Compensation Commission, chaired by Mary Hess and also composed of Gene Corfman, Pat Jensen, Leslie Parcels and Rebecca Schneider.

The recommended salaries were developed in accordance with salaries in similarly-sized communities, according to a wage study provided by the Michigan Municipal League.

Councillors Jim Dell'Orco, Kevin Camero-Sulak, Dawn Krause and Jack Ceo approved of the increases. Mayor Brian Marl and Councillor Dean Girbach voted against the recommendations.

All members of council expressed appreciation of the effort by the compensation commission.

Councillor Jack Ceo said he supported the nominal increases because of the way demands on council members have grown.

"The reason I support approving this is that of late we've had a number of additional meetings special meetings, we've had work sessions, we've had closed sessions, we've spent many more hours at the work for council than we have in the past," Ceo said. "This is only a raise of $150 a year for each of the two years, so it's not an extraordinary amount of money, either."

Marl, as he's said in the past when voting against pay increases, said he'd gladly do the job for free.

"I do the job because I'm deeply passionate about this community and its future, meaning, even if I wasn't paid anything, I'd still do it and derive quite a bit of satisfaction and pleasure. So, I will not be voting in favor of the motion," Marl said.

Girbach said he felt it was the wrong time to approve raises.

"Because of the pandemic and everything else I'll be voting no on this just because of the optics. I think it's one of those types of situations that, even though we do a lot for what we get paid, it just is not the time to support it," Girbach said.

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