Parkersburg City Council tables future mayor pay hike
Parkersburg resident Mark Hardesty speaks in opposition to a proposed raise for the Parkersburg mayor, to go into effect when a new mayor takes office in 2029. Council later voted 6-3 to table the ordinance, (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Parkersburg City Council President Andrew Borkowski, left, speaks with Councilman Zak Huffman before the start of Tuesday's council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Parkersburg resident Mark Hardesty speaks in opposition to a proposed raise for the Parkersburg mayor, to go into effect when a new mayor takes office in 2029. Council later voted 6-3 to table the ordinance, (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Parkersburg City Council President Andrew Borkowski, left, speaks with Councilman Zak Huffman before the start of Tuesday's council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
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PARKERSBURG - Members of City Council voted Tuesday night to table an ordinance raising the salary for the mayor's position beginning in 2029.
More than a dozen people spoke against the proposed increase from $90,000 to $125,000 a year during a public forum that lasted the better part of an hour after council unanimously voted to extend it beyond the 30-minute limit so everyone who signed up to speak could do so. Multiple residents cited the area's per capita and median household incomes - $30,355 and $49,025, respectively, for 2020-2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau - and asked how city officials could justify a $35,000-a-year increase. Some said the city was jumping the gun in making a decision that wouldn't take effect for more than two years.
Parkersburg resident Mark Hardesty called it "unconscionable."
"You're proposing that the mayor be paid two-and-a-half times what the median household in this city has to survive on," he said.
He suggested one or more council members might be considering a mayoral run in 2028, when Mayor Tom Joyce will be unable to seek reelection due to term limits. Anyone considering running, Hardesty said, "must vote no or at the very least abstain."
Parkersburg resident Ray Vannoy compared the proposed salary to the pay for mayors and populations of Charleston and Huntington, while resident Trish Pritchard said the city should consider moving to a city manager form of government.
Others said being mayor should be about public service, not making money,
"Before you vote, ask yourself, are we making public service more attractive or just making the paycheck more attractive?" Parkersburg resident Greg Sanders said.
Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl made the motion to table the ordinance, which passed 6-3, with Councilmen Roger Brown and Mike Reynolds and council President Andrew Borkowski opposed.
Kuhl said last week she supported the measure, in part because the mayoral salary was not raised at the end of 2024. By law, elected officials' pay cannot be increased during their current term in office. Kuhl had said addressing it now would separate the issue from whoever might be running for or elected mayor and that it needed to be increased to attract quality candidates.
After Tuesday's meeting, she said she wants to do more research on mayoral salaries, including which cities had city managers and when their mayors' salaries had been increased and why.
"I'm for the pay raise," Kuhl said. "But I want to have my information to validate it."
Parkersburg resident Eric Engle said council should consider making municipal elections nonpartisan so federal employees working at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service could run. He said some of them might be willing to throw their hat in the ring for the current salary, although he added he had no interest in running for mayor.
In other business, council unanimously approved the proposed rates for the new Simms Powell Pavilion in City Park.
An amendment to cut the rate in half for nonprofit organizations failed in a 5-4 vote with Councilwoman Wendy Tuck and Councilmen Zak Huffman, Chris Rexroad and Rob Moore in favor. An amendment proposed by Tuck to require quarterly reports on the usage and finances of the facility failed 5-4 but passed by the same margin when the requirement was changed to six months and Reynolds voted yes.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.