Mayor drops bid for raise in 2019
But calls on Common Council to set policy for future hikes
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Mayor Steve Noble has opted not to seek a $5,000 pay raise for 2019.
A request by Noble to remove the $5,000 raise for the mayor’s position from the proposed 2019 city budget was discussed and ultimately endorsed by the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee on Monday.
The $5,000 instead will be placed in a contingency account.
The amendment to the proposed $44 million city budget for 2019 and the spending plan itself were to be voted on by the full council late Tuesday.
“As you know, as part of this budget cycle, I proposed the start of a five-year plan to increase the mayor’s salary in order to be consistent with
comparable communities in New York state,” Noble wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “I felt that an incremental, phased-in process was the best approach.
“My proposal has spurred a healthy, necessary discussion, which I welcome so that we may find an appropriate and long-term solution to this issue,” he added.
The mayor was not at Monday’s meeting, but his letter was read aloud by Megan Weiss-Rowe, the city’s director of communications and community engagement.
Noble had proposed increasing the salary for the mayor’s position by $5,000 each of the next five years to bring the total to $100,000 by
2023. Instead, the salary will remain at $75,000 in 2019.
“It is clear that there is room for more thoughtful debate, and I support extending this dialogue beyond the 2019 budget process,” Noble wrote. “I urge the Common Council to develop a policy in early 2019 to implement salary adjustments for elected officials in 2020 and beyond.”
Council Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress has said he plans to introduce a policy that would provide automatic annual cost-of-living raises to members of the Common Council, the mayor and the alderman-at-large beginning Jan. 1, 2020.
During Monday’s meeting, Scott-Childress, D-Ward 3, again said such a policy would remove politics from the discussion of raises for elected city officials.