Base pay incrasing more than $5,000
BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE— With all the recent negative talk about salary compression, one commission is actually taking action to provide more uniform compensation for its own members.
Increasing the base salary paid to Starke city commissioners by $5,000 will provide most with a sizable pay raise. Instead of differentiating pay based on length of service, the change will squash the disparity between commissioners who have served several terms and those elected more recently.
An ordinance previously set the salary for new commissioners at $12,547 a year. The new ordinance sets the monthly salary at $1,481, or $17,772 a year. The number is quite close to the salary of Commissioner Wilbur Waters, the longest sitting commissioner who is retiring from office this year.
Waters’ successor, Andy Redding, will start at $17,772, joining the other commissioners who will receive raises of $631 to $5,226 when the vote is finalized.
The commissioners’ current salaries, according to the city clerk’s office, are:
Wilbur Waters $17,722.08
Daniel Nugent $17,141.29
Janice Mortimer $14,960.52
Shannon Smith $13,833.04
Scott Roberts $12,546.36
The increase to $17,772 is effective upon final approval Sept. 20. As has been the case, commissioners are also eligible for the same cost of living increases given to general employees, which means commissioners will also receive the 3% additional compensation budgeted for employees when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
For comparison, the mayor in Keystone Heights earns $5,280 a year, and council members earn $4,680. In Green Cove Springs, council members are paid $6,000 a year, and the mayor receives an additional $100 a month, or $7,200 a year. Lake Butler pays its mayor $11,343, its vice mayor $11,009 and its commissioners $10,674.
The ordinance was approved unanimously on first reading with little discussion. The only concern expressed was by Commissioner Danny Nugent who misunderstood the section on prorating the salaries of commissioners whose terms end midmonth to mean that commissioners who don’t show up to meetings would be financially penalized.
