A Denver City Council committee voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward a proposal that would raise their own and other elected leaders’ salaries by the maximum amount allowed by law.
Under city law, the salaries for elected officials are up for review every four years. Right now, Denver City Council members make about $92,000; the council president makes $103,000; the auditor and clerk make $148,000; and the mayor makes $171,000.
The proposed bill would raise the salaries annually starting this summer and ending in 2022. The 10-percent cumulative raise is the maximum allowed under city law; it’s based on the increase in the metro consumer price index, a measure of inflation, that occurred from 2015 to 2018.
The average city employee received a raise of about 13 percent in that time.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Councilman Kevin Flynn suggested that elected officials skip the raise. “I think we’re very well paid for what the position is,” he said. “This isn’t a career path.”
But other council members pointed out that the change kept pace with inflation and kept Denver in league with comparable cities around the country and with other counties in Colorado.
The raises would kick in this summer, after the local elections. After a preliminary committee approval Tuesday, they’re heading to the full council for approval.
Fair comparisons?
Denver elected leaders make more money than many, but not all, local and state legislators in Colorado.
For comparison, Aurora voters narrowly approved a measure to raise council members’ pay to about $19,000, while their mayor makes $80,000.
Denver council members also significantly out-earn state legislators, who just got a raise to about $40,000 a year. The governor makes $123,000.
However, the Denver officials’ salaries are comparable to what leaders make in other nearby governments. Denver is both a city and county, meaning its leaders have extra responsibilities — such as running the jail and some human services — that other cities don’t.
Elected officials in large counties, such as Jefferson, Arapahoe and Pueblo, make $120,000 a year in Colorado.
Full-time gig
The relatively high salaries have arguably changed the makeup of the Denver council.
It pays like a full-time job, and council members generally treat it that way. They spend their days at city hall, keep full-time staffs and conduct much of their business at daytime committee meetings. The council also skews younger than some of its peers — about half the officials are in their 30s or 40s.
There’s plenty of demand for the job: 66 people have filed to run for office in Denver this year.
Councilman Rafael Espinoza said he supports the inflation-based raise, but worries that council members could grow out of touch with constituents.
Councilwoman at-large Robin Kniech said low salaries can keep people out of public service.
“It bothers me that our state legislators are considered part-time, when I see them working year-round, and I think it’s been a barrier,” she said, pointing to the case of an Aurora councilwoman who resigned because she couldn’t keep pace with the work while holding a full-time job and raising a family.
“It’s not a 40-hour-a-week job where our work is left at the office,” she said. Flynn, despite his skepticism, agreed with her.
Councilman Paul Kashmann suggested that council should be removed from the equation, “because it becomes a political football.”
The council last approved raises in 2015, when it boosted elected salaries by 10.3 percent over two years.
