You probably plan a great deal, and get nervous, every time you ask your boss for a raise – especially in a post pandemic economy where everyone is expecting to see a recession any day and large companies are laying off workers in droves.

So, close your eyes and imagine for a second how nice it would be if you could just give yourself any raise you wanted – say, for instance, a 90 percent raise.

Well, the High Point city councilmembers are in that position and, at a work session this week, they took advantage of it.

The council members voted unanimously to raise their salaries from $10,800 a year to $20,307 in the budget expected to be adopted in June.  If the raises stay in the final budget – and the unanimous vote is a clear indication that they will – that will mean a nearly 90 percent increase in pay for each of those elected officials.

The raises will go in effect when the new 2023-2024 fiscal year begins on Saturday, July 1.

That’s a pretty nice raise in these troubled economic times when the US may or may not stop paying on its on debt. However, High Point councilmembers have been stuck at that $10,800 pay for a decade and a half.  And, as everyone who’s bought eggs or bacon in the last year knows, a dollar doesn’t’ go as far as it did two years ago – much less 15 years ago.

Councilmember Chris Williams made the motion and found a lot of support in the room.  Proponents cited increasing workloads for councilmembers and a current pay level that’s near the bottom of the pack when stacked up against the salaries of councilmembers serving in comparable cities in North Carolina.  Advocates also cited the rising costs associated with serving as a councilmember.

Typically, mayors on city councils make more than the other members and that’s the case in High Point as well.

Starting on July 1, High Point Mayor Jay Wagner, who’s now making $15,000 a year in that capacity, will pull in $26,649 a year.

 

 

 

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