(Money Matters - Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)

PARKERSBURG — Raises for elected officials are back on the Parkersburg City Council agenda.

The first readings of ordinances increasing the mayor’s annual salary from $90,000 to $97,000 and council members’ from $6,000 to $9,000 are set to be considered at the regular meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building.

To be discussed, each item will have to receive a motion and a second. Neither did at the Nov. 26 meeting.

That agenda included an ordinance referred by the Finance Committee to raise the mayoral pay from $90,000 to $110,000. Under a separate ordinance, council members would have been paid an additional $125 per regular or special meeting attended on top of their $6,000 base salary, up to a maximum of $3,000 a year.

But the ordinance for the mayor’s pay died for lack of a second, as did a resolution to transfer funds to cover the increased rates for the rest of the fiscal year. The council pay ordinance never got a motion to adopt at all.

That appeared due, at least in part, to pleas from city Sanitation Department workers in the public forum to increase their pay, with employees saying they are not properly compensated for the difficult work they do. The wife of one worker said they have to rely on food banks.

Some residents were also critical of the amounts proposed for the raises.

If pay is going to be adjusted for elected officials, it has to happen soon. Mayor and council salaries can’t be raised during their term in office.

The new ordinances are sponsored by council President Mike Reynolds, Councilwoman Jesse Cottrille and Councilman Bob Mercer. Only Reynolds is returning to council in the new term. Cottrille and Mercer did not seek reelection.

Reynolds called the new proposals “more realistic numbers.”

The council number is the same as the previous proposal, but it does not tie any of the compensation to attendance. At the Nov. 21 Finance Committee meeting where the previous ordinances were initially discussed, Reynolds proposed making all of council members’ pay contingent on attendance at meetings.

“I would guess maybe there might be some amendments made to that possibly,” he said of the new ordinance. “Hopefully somebody will second it, and we can talk about it in an open meeting.”

An ordinance must be taken up with a motion and second before it can be discussed, including offering amendments.

The council pay ordinance would also set aside $12,500 “for future pay raises to be discussed at the 2025/2026 budget meetings.”

Reynolds said that is “generally a good time to talk about pay raises.” He said the $12,500 is not for any particular department or employees, but is a starting point because it “is not going to go very far to give employees pay raises in any department.”

Reynolds said he would support a raise for sanitation workers, but noted they are classified as medium equipment operators like employees of other departments.

“I don’t think there’s anybody that doesn’t want to give sanitation a pay raise,” he said.

Asked about the proposed change to the pay for the city’s chief executive, Mayor Tom Joyce said Friday that he wished council “would have discussed it and taken action through the amendment process two weeks ago.”

The agenda also includes a resolution allocating $20,171 to cover the proposed council and mayor raises for the second half of this fiscal year.

Another resolution would allocate $594,904 from the city’s investment pool income to cover lease payments for the new Fire Station 3 off Seventh Street and activity and recreation center in City Park.

The city transferred ownership of those properties to the Municipal Building Commission, which issued bonds to finance construction of the facilities. Interest earned by the investment pool, which consists of reserves from a variety of municipal funds, will help pay off those bonds via lease payments from the city, Finance Director Eric Jiles said.

Also on the agenda are the final readings of ordinances authorizing an online public auction and amending city code relating to electrical work. Council is also expected to receive, file and approve the Board of Canvassers’ certification of the votes cast in the municipal general election.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com