Boulder City council pay hike sparks petition

Greg Harman

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2000 | 10:40 a.m.

Boulder City Councilman Bill Smith is raising a cloud of questions surrounding a City Council vote in June to increase council members' salaries without first standing for a general election -- a practice not clearly addressed by the town's charter but forbidden by state law.

The raises are set to go into effect following the general municipal election in July 2001 -- before Mayor Bob Ferraro or Councilmen Bryan Nix and Joe Hardy have to stand for re-election.

Even as Smith filed his petition with the city clerk today seeking to undo the $5,000 annual salary increase for council members and $8,000 annual increase for the mayor, the state is preparing to investigate Boulder City Mayor Bob Ferraro on possible ethics violations.

The ethics complaint, filed by Smith on July 7, alleges Ferraro, a 24-year veteran of the council, pushed for his raise with the intention of increasing his retirement benefits by $300 per month.

"It was all orchestrated by Ferraro to increase his retirement," Smith said.

In agreeing to hear the complaint, the state Ethics Commission found that "some credible evidence exists that Mayor Ferraro did not disclose his pecuniary interest in the adoption of the pay increase ordinance on which he voted."

The commission's finding of sufficient cause also noted that Ferraro's retirement benefits would be greater than any of the members of the council.

Ferraro said this morning he had been advised by the city attorney not to discuss the ethics charges, but he said Smith was off-base on his petition drive.

"The problem here is that Bill Smith didn't understand the difference ... between general law cities and charter law cities," Ferraro said.

As a charter law city Boulder City is guided not by state law but by its charter, which states: "The Council may determine the annual salaries of the mayor and councilmen by ordinance, but no ordinance increasing such salaries shall become effective until the next regular municipal election."

"It's provided within this charter to do this," Ferraro said.

He then added that it had been eight years since the council had received a substantial raise.

The council members' annual salaries will increase to $15,363, while the mayor's jumps to $20,857.

Councilman Bryan Nix said his conversations with residents who were in Boulder City when the charter was adopted in 1959 has led him to believe that the current council has acted appropriately.

"The intent was if one member of the council was to get a pay raise, all members should be treated the same," Nix said.

But as Smith pointed out in the June council meeting, this is the first time the council has interpreted its charter to allow the raises for members before they individually stand for re-election.

Smith and four other signers will be circulating two petitions submitted to the city clerk this morning in coming weeks.

One petition seeks to abolish the raise the council approved for itself in June. The other would ratify the city charter to reflect state law on the matter of raises for the council.