Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register
With Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder breaking the tie, City Council on Tuesday night narrowly voted to increase the salaries of elected officials in 2020.
With little discussion, the city council voted 6-5 to tie the salaries of city officials to the consumer price index, which accounts for inflation. Increases would be capped to 1.75 percent. In years in which the CPI is negative, salaries would remain the same.
Currently, the mayor’s salary is about $129,600. The city clerk and city treasurer’s salaries are set at about $88,000. Pay for city council members is about $15,500.
The last time the full city council received a salary increase was about eight years ago. An ordinance from 2010 that fixed the salaries of the full-time elected officials — mayor, city treasurer, city clerk — to CPI with a 3.5 percent cap was repealed in 2014.
Ward 1 Ald. Chuck Redpath, Ward 4 Ald. John Fulgenzi, Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin, Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen and Ward 10 Ald. Ralph Hanauer voted with the mayor to approve the ordinance. The ordinances were sponsored by Theilen, who has served a full 12-year term and cannot run for office again.
***
In other action, the city council unanimously voted to approve the city’s portion of the property tax levy. The rate will remain the same at .9385 cents per $100 of a property’s assessed value. The property tax produced is expected to cover a portion of the city’s contribution to police and fire pensions. However, property taxes are estimated to fall about $661,000 short of covering the payment that will meet the state-mandated recommendation. The annual fire pension payment is expected to cost $12.2 million, while the police pension contribution is set at $10.6 million.
Lt. Bob Davidsmeyer, who serves as the vice president of the city’s police pension board, asked city council members to consider paying an additional $155,000, which would cover the cost of the interest of unfunded pension liability. He pulled the number from an audit conducted by Amen & Lauterbach in February. Davidsmeyer noted the city fell $440,000 short last year in paying off interest and about $669,000 the year before that.
The unfunded liability is only going to grow if the city didn’t consider putting more into the funds, Davidsmeyer said.
Langfelder said the city would consider making an extra payment to the pension system when taking a look at the city’s next budget. Two years ago, the city made an additional $1 million payment, split between the police and fire pension funds.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 