How much should city mayors make in Idaho? These two could see substantial raises next year
Two Boise-area mayors could see salary increases of at least 10% next year, according to the latest proposals headed toward City Council votes.
Meridian Mayor Robert Simison could receive a 10% raise, and Eagle Mayor Jason Pierce is scheduled to receive a 21% raise.
In Meridian, a five-member citizen committee meets to discuss the possibilities of increasing mayoral and City Council salaries. In Eagle, the mayor and council will take the same salary increases that city employees will take next year. That was proposed and voted on by council members.
Idaho law requires that salaries be increased and published in city ordinances at least 75 days before any city general election. The salary increases in both cities would be effective Jan. 1, 2024.
Meridian citizen committee proposes increase
Simison makes $119,770 annually, according to records obtained by the Idaho Statesman. His raise would put him at $131,745 annually. City Council members would also see a 10% increase, from $17,000 to over $19,000 annually.
The reason? A citizens review board decided that the 10% raise would fairly compensate the council members and mayor for the work they do outside of the weekly Tuesday night meetings.
Josh Evarts, a downtown Meridian developer and business owner, was on the compensation committee and said the 10% salary increases are in line with how cities across Idaho are raising elected officials’ salaries. He also said the committee is “playing catch up” on the salaries this year because of inflationary pressures from the previous year.
“We believe pretty strongly that the salary is out of line with current market conditions,” Evarts said during a council meeting July 18
In 2019, Evarts said, the city increased mayoral and council salaries to accommodate a cost-of-living increase. In 2021, Evarts said, the city added the cost-of-living increase to council salaries and boosted the mayor’s salary beyond just cost of living, to what he makes now.
“We’ve been really, really excited about our City Council members,” Evarts said. “We don’t feel like you guys are a group of people that show up on Tuesday nights and aren’t visible the rest of the time and throw some thoughts out there and make some people happy, some people mad and then go home the rest of the week.”
In addition to compensating existing council members and the mayor, Evarts said the committee also thought the raise would be a good way to entice “great people” to step into future city roles.
“We just can’t rely on rich people that have time to volunteer if we want to get the best and the brightest and widen the base of people who can serve,” he said.
In Meridian, members of the public still have time to provide feedback on the raises. They can testify in-person at the City Council meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 15 at City Hall.
Eagle elected officials receive 20%-plus increases
In Eagle, the raises are a done deal. The City Council approved them in a 3-1 vote Tuesday.
Council members’ salaries were $12,720 before the raises were approved and will increase to $16,225, a 27% increase. Pierce’s salary was $76,320 annually before the raises and increased to $92,795.
Pierce said he supported the increases to make sure the city can recruit “quality” people.
“You are the CEO of the city. You are responsible for a $60 million budget. You are responsible for 80 employees-plus,” Pierce said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “We need to make sure that it isn’t just one of those side jobs that someone may have retired from and decided to come here and do. It’s a job that people can run for and still afford to live in the city.”
Council Member Charlie Baun agreed, saying increasing the salary would also ensure that a more diverse group of people can serve as council members in the future.
“It’s really hard for somebody to work for 40-plus hours then have a second job for 40-plus hours, and then come and do this and not get anything,” Baun said during the meeting.
Council Member Brad Pike voted against the increases, saying he believes that a council member’s service is “a calling, not a job.”
This story was originally published August 9, 2023 at 2:34 PM.
