Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2001 | 10:34 a.m.
The Boulder City Council tonight will discuss a compromise that would preserve council salary raises threatened by an initiative petition signed by 753 residents.
The alternative initiative, which would appear on the June ballot, would put off until 2003 a proposed amendment to the city charter that would prevent council members from voting themselves raises effective in the same term of office.
Last June the council voted itself raises effective this June. Mayor Robert Ferraro, Councilman Bryan Nix and Councilman Joe Hardy would get the raise before running for re-election.
"It's punitive," Hardy said of the anti-raise petition, which was authored by fellow Councilman Bill Smith. "It punishes the people who have the nerve to say it's about time the City Council got a raise. And it penalizes the councils to come."
Hardy, who is proposing the compromise, said his measure will allow the council to get a much-needed raise, while preventing future councils from voting for same-term raises.
"They want to have their cake and eat it too," Smith, a retired travel agent, said. "They're saying every other council shouldn't have the ability to vote itself raises, except for them."
Hardy, a doctor, acknowledged Monday that public sentiment is forcing the compromise. He said residents aren't upset by the raise itself, but the fact that council members will get the raise before facing re-election.
What he and other councilmen hope to avoid is the fine print contained in Smith's petition.
In addition to preventing future same-term council raises, Smith's amendment to the charter would eliminate monthly car and health allowances, which can double council members' compensation. It would also prohibit council members from receiving such small perks as a city-bought bottle of water during a meeting.
Council members get a $500 per month health insurance allowance and $450 per month for car expenses. Those two benefits provide an additional $11,400 each year to a base annual salary of $10,400.
Smith said he wants to limit the City Council to base wages and out-of-pocket expenses. Rather than having the city cut a check for $450 each month, Smith said, auto expenses should be figured for actual miles traveled.
But Ferraro, Nix and Hardy all argued that if health and auto benefits are eliminated -- effectively halving salaries -- future councils would most likely be limited to only wealthy and retired residents who could afford the reduced salary.
Nix is a senior appeals officer for the state, and Ferraro is a retired corporate manager. Councilman Mike Pacini, a grocery store clerk, is running for re-election this spring.
In fact, the council members hope to preserve the raises approved last June, which would give council members an additional $5,000 annually and the mayor an additional $8,000.
"The raises will allow people in blue-collar jobs to run for office and be paid for what they do rather than put themselves at financial risk," Hardy said.
Even if the City Council votes tonight to put Hardy's compromise measure on the ballot and it passes in the general election in June, there could be complications.
"The fly in the ointment," as Hardy put it, is Smith's second initiative, one that would repeal the raises approved last June.
That initiative goes for a vote in the primary election April 3. If that initiative passes, the council would be forced to vote itself same-term raises a second time.
That scenario seems unlikely.
"Everyone knows it's politically unwise to give yourself a raise," Hardy said. "Obviously it should have been done before. But it's been put off and put off and put off. My feeling is, (Smith's) referendum has to fail. It's not helping Boulder City as much as it's punishing the present council."
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