Resolution in Works to Pay Mayor Additional $50k

Town Council voted for the town's attorney to draw up a resolution to pay Mayor Bill Collins an extra $50,000 as a contract employee Monday morning during the finance committee meeting. 

The resolution will be drafted and then brought to full council. A resolution only needs one reading to take effect. 

The increase in pay is just the latest in Town Council's new outlook on mayoral duties since Collins took office. In 2011, with a new mayor and an empty administrator's position, council considered changing the town's government from council-manager to strong mayor. However, since changing the town's government structure would require a referendum from the voters, council voted to give the administrator duties to the mayor. 

In Summerville, where the town government is set up with limited mayoral duties, the mayor earns $15,000 per year. That salary did not change with the increased administrative duties added to Collins' job description. If the town filled the administrator's role, it would be an additional $165,000 with salary and benefits.

Monday's vote was 5-1, with the mayor abstaining and Councilman Aaron Brown voting against the motion. Brown had concerns that this is just the latest in the town's attempt to "run a hybrid situation," circumventing the voters who expect town government to be run by an administrator along with council. 

"If we're going to go with this type of situation (increasing salary and increasing duties of the mayor) then we should go to voters with a referendum and ask for a strong-mayor," Brown said, adding the increase in salary could become "problematic" in the town post-Collins. 

But those voting in favor of increasing the mayor's salary contend that future councils will be able to amend the pay and duties in the future. Already, the additional duties assumed by Collins were created in a separate ordinance that could be amended. Councilmen Walter Bailey proposed the motion. 

Councilman Bob Jackson also questioned the future of the mayoral position, but voted in favor of the town's attorney drafting a resolution. 

An increase to a public employee's salary cannot be enacted until after an election cycle after they've entered office. Collins could not receive a change in salary until November 2013. If the resolution passes, he will start earning the additional income January 2014.