S.F. County GOP sues over next mayor’s pay
Complaint says panel did not have authority to raise salary to $110K from $74K
The Republican Party of Santa Fe County and nine city residents filed a lawsuit against the city Wednesday over how much the next mayor of Santa Fe will be paid, seeking to thwart a raise slated to take effect in March after voters elect a full-time mayor.
The lawsuit, filed in state District Court, claims the volunteer Independent Salary Commission that earlier this year set the annual mayoral base pay at $110,000 had no authority to do so.
Santa Fe voters approved a mayoral pay hike in 2014 as a charter amendment. But they did so with the understanding the next mayor would, at least at first, be paid $74,000, the lawsuit alleges.
The charter amendment established that the salary would be determined by an independent commission. “Until such [a] commission is created and sets the salary for mayor, the mayor’s salary shall be $74,000,” the ballot question read.
The City Council approved an ordinance in 2016 that created the commission, which began to meet in March of this year and in May ultimately settled on the six-figure base pay.
Blair Dunn, a Republican attorney representing the plaintiffs, pointed to language on the 2014 ballot that said the charter amendment, if approved, was to take effect March 12, 2018.
Dunn said no commission should have been established until after that point. Voters who approved the amendment expected their next mayor to initially be paid $74,000, he said.
“It’s a typical Santa Fe bait-andswitch,” said Yvonne Chicoine, the county GOP chairwoman.
“Our government should not be allowed to induce voters to ‘buy into’ something and then substantially alter the deal once voters have bought in,” the lawsuit reads.
Chicoine, a county resident who ran unsuccessfully for First Judicial District Attorney last year, said a judge should order that the mayor elected in March be paid $74,000 annually until a new commission is created and sets the salary.
“Voters would have the $74,000 mayor that they voted for,” she said.
The position of mayor, effectively more ceremonial figurehead than chief executive, currently earns a salary of $29,500. The 2014 charter amendment to make the role full time, with a higher salary and more administrative power, was approved by 58 percent of city voters. But critics afterward argued the ballot language surrounding the $74,000 figure had misled some voters.
The salary commission was tasked with evaluating salaries of other public executives in Santa Fe County and mayoral salaries in cities of comparable size and with comparable costs of living in the region.
Albuquerque, with almost seven times Santa Fe’s population, pays its mayor $125,000, as determined by the Duke City’s own Citizens’ Independent Salary Commission.
Gov. Susana Martinez is paid $110,000 a year, about $27,000 less than the average U.S. gubernatorial salary in 2016.
The salary commission at one point floated a mayoral salary of $145,000 to $175,000, which would have ballooned up to as much as $250,000 after benefits were included.
Mayor Javier Gonzales came out against the proposal, urging the commission to consider lowering it.
“I do believe the range currently being considered is too high to ask taxpayers to cover,” tweeted Gonzales, who later decided not to run for re-election and is now seeking the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.
The commission ultimately approved the $110,000 base salary on a 4-3 vote. The panel also voted to reconvene one year into the next mayor’s term to review the salary.
Chicoine, in attendance when the commission approved the sixfigure salary, argued the commission had not been legally constituted, to applause from the council chambers.
With a pension and other benefits, the total annual mayoral compensation, at the base pay of $110,000, would rise to $154,000.
City Manager Brian Snyder earlier Wednesday said officials hadn’t yet seen the lawsuit, adding the city wouldn’t comment on litigation.
Paul Hultin, an attorney who served as chairman of the salary commission, said Wednesday the seven-member group had acted in accordance with the charter.
“All of the work that we did … was legal and above-board, and it was clear,” Hultin said. “The lawsuit, I think, lacks any merit.”