When has anyone in real life ever gotten a 200%-plus pay increase all at once? Umm. No one?
Thus, it shouldn’t surprise anyone — I was not surprise, for sure — to see Fort Worth voters nix a proposed monstrous pay increase for their mayor and city council members.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
The mayor makes $29,000 annually and individual council members make $25,000.
The proposition would have tied the mayor’s pay to half the average salary of department heads and the council members’ to half the average of the city assistant department heads. That comes out to $99,653 for the mayor, a 244% increase. The pay for council members would be $76,727, an increase of 207%.
Can I hear an “eek!”?
Fort Worth voters say no to pay raise for mayor, City Council members (msn.com)
Mayor Mattie Parker said she deserves to be paid more than the current amount. I am not going to pass judgment on that assertion. All I can say with some degree of confidence is that Fort Worth voters more than likely were in no mood to shell out that kind of an increase when they are struggling to pay more for practically everything they purchase.
And they aren’t getting a huge pay raise to lighten their load.