From left, Parkersburg City Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl speaks during a Finance Committee meeting Thursday at the Municipal Building as Councilmen Zach Stanley and Chris Rexroad listen. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG — Proposed raises for the Parkersburg mayor and City Council were approved by one vote each during a Finance Committee meeting Thursday, but not without debate.

One proposed ordinance would raise the mayor’s annual salary from $90,000 to $110,000. Councilman Chris Rexroad made a motion to cut the increase in half. It failed in a 3-2 vote, with only Rexroad and Councilman J.R. Carpenter voting for it.

“When it comes to making raises here, $20,000 a year is quite substantial,” Rexroad said.

Finance Director Eric Jiles said that if the mayor’s salary had received the same cost-of-living adjustments as other city employees, the amount would have been $104,000 this year. However, state law prohibits elected officials’ pay from being raised during their term of office.

Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl said the average salary for city managers in Beckley, Bridgeport, Clarksburg, Fairmont, Morgantown and Wheeling is $130,000. Parkersburg does not have a city manager, so the mayor is the chief executive and “they have the same duties as Parkersburg’s mayor,” she said.

Parkersburg City Councilman J.R. Carpenter addresses a proposal to change council members’ pay during a Finance Committee meeting Thursday at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Carpenter countered that the mayors of West Virginia’s two largest cities, Charleston and Huntington, have annual salaries of $125,000 and $114,922, respectively. He said that works out to $2.70 and $2.56 per person, while the rate in Parkersburg would be over $4 with the original rate and about $3.82 with the lower amount.

And Parkersburg, Carpenter said, has “a declining population and no economic growth to speak of in the last eight years.”

Finance Committee Chairman Zach Stanley said the mayor’s salary can only be adjusted every four years and the proposed amount “puts us where Parkersburg should be going forward.”

The original proposal was forwarded to the full council on a 3-2 vote, with Carpenter and Rexroad opposed.

The number “really makes no difference … the answer’s going to be no,” Carpenter said.

Parkersburg Finance Director Eric Jiles, left, explains the proposal for an increase in the mayor’s salary as Mayor Tom Joyce listens during a Parkersburg City Council Finance Committee meeting Thursday at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Mayor Tom Joyce did not address the proposal during the meeting. Afterward, he said Charleston and Huntington also have city managers and he feels his job has more in common with the city managers in other municipalities than the mayors, who often have other full-time jobs.

“The job is running the day-to-day of the city,” Joyce said.

Discussion about the salary should be about the job, not the individual occupying it, he said.

“This is not a referendum on Tom Joyce. That was on Nov. 5,” he said, referring to the recent election.

The proposal to change council’s compensation would add a payment of $125 – not to exceed $3,000 in a year – for each regular or special meeting a member attends on top of the $6,000 they receive now. The council president gets an extra $600 a year.

Council President Mike Reynolds proposed an amendment that would raise council’s annual salary to $8,496, and $9,000 for the president, but the pay would be based entirely on in-person attendance at regular meetings. A member would have received $354 per meeting or $177 if they attend by phone or other electronic means.

“If you make all your meetings, you get the full $8,496 before taxes,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said being at meetings is important in part because it allows constituents to speak with their representatives before and after.

“I think everybody on council knows that this year we had a real problem with attendance,” he said.

The amendment died for lack of a second after some discussion.

Kuhl said she preferred the base salary with additional pay for attending meetings because a council member’s job consists of other duties, like committee meetings and answering questions and solving problems for constituents.

“But if you wanted your pay raise, then you’re going to attend the meetings,” she said.

Carpenter, who was not elected to a fourth term earlier this month, said he likes the idea of members not getting paid if they don’t show up to meetings.

“I find it an honor and a privilege to be a voice for my district,” he said.

Stanley, who did not run for re-election, said he understood Reynolds’ rationale but felt it was too “drastic” a step at this time.

Rexroad said he could not vote for a raise for himself after opposing a raise for the mayor. Stanley said the decision should be about the position, not the person.

The proposal was referred to council on a 3-2 vote, with Carpenter and Rexroad opposed.

A resolution allocating $27,883 to cover the increased salaries for the remainder of the fiscal year also passed by the same margin.

The two ordinances and the resolution are expected to be on the agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com