Albany Mayor and Commissioners want huge pay hikes - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Albany Mayor and Commissioners want huge pay hikes

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January 16, 2007

Albany - Albany City Commissioners vote to double their salaries and triple the Mayor's. Right now, commissioners make $7200 a year. The Mayor makes a thousand dollars more, but they say that's not enough.

City Manager Alfred Lott says the elected officials haven't gotten a substantial raise since 1987. On Tuesday, commissioners voted to increase their pay to $15,000 a year and the mayor's to $25,000.

Compare that to the city of Roswell which is similar in size to Albany. The part-time Mayor there earns $40,000 a year and each commissioner makes $18,000. But Roswell's annual budget is almost $20 Million more than Albany's.

Cities with similar budgets have salaries more in line with Albany's. 

Commission Tommie Postell says, "get some qualified people that want to run and you want people to run for the position, not to be paid, but to do the service and not have to spend their own monies."

Mayor Willie Adams says, "I personally went into this situation realizing what the pay was, certainly I'm not pushing for pay myself, but I think it's very appropriate for somebody that succeeds me that get adequately paid."

Tuesday's vote isn't final. Commissioner Jon Howard voted no, Bob Langstaff abstained. Everyone else, including the Mayor, voted in favor of the raises. If approved, the raises won't go into effect until next January.

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