Hogsett says he'll veto Democrats' last-minute proposal to raise City-County Council salaries

City-County Council Democrats on Monday afternoon introduced a last-minute pay raise proposal that would more than double councilors’ base pay. But its timing has raised eyebrows on both sides of the aisle.

The proposal seeks to set councilors’ wages to 16% of the base pay of Marion County Superior Court judges, who make $156,519. Current statutes tie councilors’ pay to the mayor’s $95,000 salary.

The proposal was introduced just hours before Monday night's meeting and will be heard by the council's Rules and Public Policy Committee at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in room 260 of the City-County Building. 

While Republicans were quick to criticize the proposal Monday as an 11th-hour effort by Democrats to raise their own pay, Mayor Joe Hogsett, a Democrat who was handed a decisive victory on Election Day, has already said he would veto the measure, if passed.

How much would councilors be paid?

Per Indianapolis municipal code, City-County councilors are paid $11,400, or 12% of the mayor's salary.

Monday's proposal seeks to pro-rate that salary through March 2020 before increasing pay to the equivalent of 16% of a superior court judge's salary in April.

At 16% of a judge's salary, councilors would be paid $25,043 annually.

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On top of their annual salaries, councilors receive a per diem of $112 for each council meeting attended (not to exceed 21) and $62 for each of their respective committee meetings. That would remain unchanged under the new proposal. 

The following officers would receive additional compensation:

• The president would receive $1,982 annually.
• The vice president and majority and minority leaders would receive $1,320 annually.
• The chairperson of each standing committee would receive $797 annually.
• The chairperson of each special committee would receive $66 monthly.

Council Minority Leader Michael McQuillen (R-4) said he had no qualms with raising council members’ base pay but questioned the timing and political motivations of said pay raises. He suggested implementing any raise beginning after the 2023 election.

“My concern is that the Democratic majority, now that they’re emboldened by their new numbers coming next year, have decided to try to take this lame duck session and reward their Democratic counterparts with more than doubling their salary,” he said.

Indianapolis City-County councilors last received a raise in 2002. Furthermore, Indianapolis' councilors are paid at a lower rate than comparable and local municipalities. Carmel City councilors had a 2018 base salary of $20,448. In Columbus, Ohio, City Council members were paid a base salary of $57,738 in 2018. 

In a written statement, Councilor Monroe Gray (D-8), who sponsored the proposal, said Indianapolis councilors should be compensated at a rate comparable to that of councilors in similar municipalities.

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"While no one enters public service for financial gain," he said, "it’s important that councillors are paid appropriately for their work to preserve the ability of ‘everyday citizens’ — with families and careers and bills to pay — to serve."

A rocky road

Each of the council pay raises proposed since at least 2015 have failed. 

In 2015, Republican Mayor Greg Ballard vetoed a proposal that would have raised the base pay by 44%, to $16,400. In 2016, the council swiftly killed a proposal that would have more than doubled councilors' base pay, bringing it up to $25,000 annually.

However, Hogsett, who has previously said he was against raising his own salary, to which councilors’ salaries are currently tethered, was quick to reject Monday’s proposal.

“While recent conversations about updating long-stagnant council compensation are understandable,” Hogsett said in a written statement, “I have significant concerns about the substance and timing of this proposed change.”

Not only are there less than two months left in current councilors’ terms, the proposal was added to the agenda around 4 p.m., only hours before councilors met at the City-County Building. Each meeting’s agenda is typically approved and released publicly the preceding Friday.

However, if the proposal gets overwhelming support from council Democrats, a Hogsett veto may not carry much weight.

Democrats swept council races across Marion County on Election Day, securing an unprecedented 20-5 supermajority. That is more than enough for the two-thirds majority required to overturn a mayoral veto.  

Even if the measure were to be passed and vetoed by Hogsett before the end of the calendar year, a motion to reconsider and address the veto could spill into next year and be revisited in January, when the supermajority will officially be in place.

Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at 317-444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.