In an era of belt-tightening, a proposal to change the Dallas city charter to double the pay of future council members and mayors is excessive and tone deaf.
Dallas City Council members work long hours beyond the time that they spend around the council horseshoe. A decade ago, they were abysmally underpaid, council members receiving $37,500 and the mayor $60,000 annually. Dallas voters responded with a charter change in 2014 that hiked annual council salaries to $60,000 and the mayor’s salary to $80,000. This newspaper supported the pay bump because the level of compensation had become laughable and embarrassing.
But late last month, the city’s Charter Commission decided it was time for another pay hike, recommending that the City Council and voters bump the salaries of council members to $125,000 and the mayor to $140,000, with future increases tied to inflation. The rest of us should be so fortunate.
With all due respect, public service should be just that — a commitment to the public good that should attract those who are willing to work for the city’s overall good. Elected officials deserve compensation for their work, like all of us expect, but this six-digit, taxpayer-funded hike to well above the median salary in Dallas is a bit much.
Backers of the pay hike insist that heftier paychecks will attract a more diverse pool of office seekers beyond the financially comfortable, civic-minded professionals who often hold council seats. With a higher pay for their service, middle-income residents and others with so-called regular jobs would seek council seats, backers insist. Arguably, the commitment of time and other factors are as important, if not more important, to potential office seekers than the size of their city paycheck.
Council pay raises generally are tough sells to taxpayers anywhere.
Two years ago, Fort Worth voters soundly defeated a measure that would have increased the pay of mayor from $29,000 to nearly $100,000 and council members from $25,000 to more than $76,000. That same year, Dallas City Council members voted to give themselves a $1,000-a-month car allowance that amounted to a backdoor $12,000-a-year pay increase. The council backpedaled in 2023, approving a budget without the allowance.
Council salaries vary widely by city. Houston, which has a strong-mayor system, pays council members about $67,000 and the mayor $236,000 as the city’s chief executive. San Antonio and Austin, which have council-manager systems like ours, pay their council members $45,000 and $116,000, respectively, with bumps for their mayors.
The Austin council was able to unilaterally give itself a 40% raise in 2022 because it didn’t have to change the charter, which would have required a referendum.
The next stop for the pay proposal in Dallas is a council vote on charter amendments. If the council approves a pay hike, then Dallas voters would get the final say in November.
There’s no certainty that better pay would improve the pool of candidates who are able and willing to shape the city’s direction. Right now, some council members work harder and are more engaged than others. Either the mayor and council members are prepared for the time commitments and personal sacrifices, or they aren’t. And if they aren’t, then no amount of money will make them better.
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