Allegheny County ballot question: Should county council get salary or stipend?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Hard-fought races for state courts, county, school, and municipal offices are not the only items on the ballot on Tuesday.
As KDKA-TV political editor Jon Delano reports, voters in Allegheny County have a referendum question that would change the way, but not the amount, that county council members are paid.
It's a part-time job that has never paid much. County council members earn the equivalent of $210 a week in a stipend that gets doled out based on meetings attended, rather than as a salary like other county officials.
"One of the recommendations from the Government Review Commission was to change it from a stipend to a salary, and the reason was so we get paid on a regular basis," Allegheny County Councilperson Bob Macey said.
On Election Day, Allegheny County voters will be asked to vote yes or no on a ballot question that will maintain the current pay but as a salary, not a stipend, with one pay raise every five years that cannot exceed five percent.
Macey says that right now, council members get a full stipend for attending 20 out of 24 council meetings and are paid nothing for attending committee meetings or their work in the community.
"Council meetings average maybe 20 minutes to an hour," Macey said. "The bulk of our work is done in the community, attending different events, attending committee meetings Downtown. We put a lot of work in. It's a part-time job that has full-time responsibilities."
A vote yes, says Macey, does not change their overall pay of $10,939, but he said it would be paid over 26 pay periods, instead of after each council meeting.
"This isn't a pay increase," he said. "This isn't a political maneuvering. All it is is a way for us to get paid just like the rest of the employees in Allegheny County every two weeks."
Macey says members of the council in both parties voted to put this change on the ballot, but at least one is urging a no vote.
"I really hope that everyone will be voting no on this ballot referendum. I personally will be," Allegheny County Councilperson Bethan Hallam said.
Hallam says the change might encourage council members not to attend their meetings.
"All this does is change from a per meeting stipend, where if you don't attend the meeting, you don't get paid, to a salary where a council member could get elected to a four-year term and not show up for a single council meeting or do a single ounce of work and still receive their entire taxpayer-funded salary," Hallam said.
Macey says there is no evidence of council members skipping meetings and this is simply an accounting correction. Voters will decide on Tuesday.