Ketchum residents didn’t hold back this week as city council members quickly tabled a proposed pay increase.
“What the hell’s wrong with you? How can you think this is appropriate,” asked Perry Boyle, a Ketchum resident who unsuccessfully ran for city council in the past.
Boyle and others dismissed the pay hike proposal, which would’ve raised salaries from about $28,000 a year up to $70,000, as too sudden and self-serving.
“It is a service and if you don’t like what you’re getting paid, which I understand, you can resign,” said Juanita Young via Zoom.
A handful of former elected officials also joined in the pushback, including Anne Corrock, a former city council member.
“It does take a lot of time, it does take a lot of commitment and I think it was one of the most rewarding things I think I ever did and I really don’t think money should make a difference,” Corrock said.
The issue first arose two weeks ago when the city council first discussed its preliminary budget for the upcoming fiscal year that begins in October.
Council members Spencer Cordovano and Tripp Hutchinson both floated the idea ranging from $50,000 annual salaries to $70,000 respectively.
That compensation does not include elected officials’ health insurance or state pension retirement benefits.
Both men said higher pay is needed to protect against independently wealthy residents running the resort town.
Councilmember Courtney Hamilton, who was absent during the previous meeting, said she understands the push for higher pay.
“I, for the last two years, have attempted to have a full-time, 40-hour a week job plus city council and I can say that it is not sustainable,” Hamilton said.
But she said the idea should’ve been brought months ago to discuss instead of shortly before a legal deadline later this month.
Idaho code requires any bump in pay for city council members to be adopted through an ordinance at least 75 days before a general election. Raises cannot go into effect until January 1 following that general election.
After receiving no positive feedback from residents Monday, Cordovano and Hutchinson agreed to withdraw their proposals.
But Cordovano warned the issue will not go away.
“We have a working class council now. Kiss it goodbye with the way that real estate prices have gone, [a $28,000 salary] hardly gets you strawberries at the store in this town.”
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