City Council to Discuss Raising Council Wages Every Year Until 2031

Council's Committee of the Whole to Discuss Item Monday Evening

Monday evening, a number of city council committee meetings will be held, many of which may provide more than just the standard brand rubber-stamping residents have come to expect. Here is a look at the entire agenda for the evening.

Of all the items that are most interesting on the list, the wage increase for council members is the one that garners the most interest from this publication. The Council’s Committee of the Whole, will look at increasing wages for elected officials, including members of city council. These increases are not just for 2025 and 2026, but the proposal will lock in an automatic 3% wage increases every year until at least 2031 - seven years down the road. The proposal is outlined below:

Legislatively, a city council can not approve a pay increase for the current term, rather, the council can approve pay increases for city council that will kick in after the next term of city council beings, which will be January 2026. In other words, the council can’t vote for a pay raise for themselves right now, but they can certainly vote for future pay raises. And council is looking to increase those wages not only for the next term of city council, but for the two following city council terms as well.

Currently, a city council member earns $9,670 per year, which is roughly $805.83 per month; not bad for attending at most four meetings a month and a public event or two. Members of council, as with all elected officials for the city, are part of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, which allows them to earn a pension at the conclusion of their service, which is no doubt a nice benefit. It should be noted that if public officials and employees are members of the Public Employee Retirement System, these individuals do not pay into Social Security.

Comparing Troy to other County Communities

All of this may lead to an interesting question, what about other cities around Miami County? How well are these city council members compensated?

In Piqua, four of the five city commissioners earn $5,000 a year, roughly 52% of what a Troy City Council Members earn. Piqua’s Mayor earns $6,000 a year, compared to Troy’s Mayor at a current annual salary of over $24,000. Tipp City’s elected council members also earn $5,000 a year. City Council members in Huber Heights are compensated at approximately $7,452 a year.

These numbers add a bit of significance, since the wages for council members in Miami County’s other communities are not high enough for those council members to earn a pension through the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. The system requires it’s contributing employees to earn a minimum annual wage in order to participate, and for 2024 that wage is $8,657 per year.

Building a Floor, not a Ceiling

One of the interesting aspects of placing automatic 3% pay increases for council members over the six years from 2026 to 2031, is how these pay increases will play out as raises for other city employees.

Many city employees are parts of collective bargaining units, better known as unions, that hammer out contracts every three years. Those employees that are covered by these unions are those that have the most difficult and challenging jobs that the city has; these are front line firefighters and patrol officers. These are also employees are also those that monitor essential services such water and wastewater systems around the clock. In other words, the tangible work of delivering services from the city is done by these union employees, not those that attend a few meetings a month.

In more challenging economic times, it wasn’t unheard to have unions agree to pay increases that were either 2% or 2.5%. If the plan in front of council is successful, the starting point for future negotiations on wage increases are going to start at 3%, not end there. If those elected officials attending evening meetings on a part-time basis are guaranteed a 3% increase each year from 2026 through 2031, our unions are going to demand at least 3% in pay raises each year for their men and women in future contract negotiations, and yes, they should at a minimum get a 3% pay hike. In effect, the city is creating a 3% wage increase floor, and not a ceiling, when it comes to future wage increases, regardless of what future economic times may call for.

What is Public Service?

Elected officials should be fairly compensated for the work that they perform for their community. Troy has always been extremely generous towards their elected officials for their compensation package, even including that long after their days of service, their contributions to the Ohio Public Employee Retirement system can still provide them tangible benefits.

In full disclosure, when I was President of Council, I was covered by the city’s health insurance package, in which I paid co-pays just like any other city employee, and this was a benefit clearly allowed by the city ordinances. But, in reality, it’s a benefit that is rare for part-time elected officials.

Given the generosity of this city’s taxpayers, a 3% automatic pay increase each year from 2026 to 2031, is truly a bit much. Over the next seven years, the fiscal health of the community can change, and painting future city councils into a corner requiring to dole out more money to elected officials is unhelpful and unhealthy. If council believes that they and other elected officials are due more compensation for their work, so be it. But to ensure these increases are automatic for such a long period of time is not doing the future of this community any favors.

What Do You Think?

Are our locally elected officials fairly compensated? Is the plan presented good for the community? Our paid subscribers are more than welcome to leave their ideas and insights in the comment thread!

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