If members of the Indianapolis City-County Council want a 119 percent pay raise, Mayor Joe Hogsett says they will have to find another way to pay for it.
A proposal before the Councilors this coming Monday would raise their base pay from $11,400 to $25,000 annually.
Supporters have argued it’s needed to bring their salaries up to par with their counterparts in other cities. Opponents have argued the proposal, which would cost Indy taxpayers about $340,000, was not included in the budget and with so many city workers not getting raises and the economy still bad for some Hoosiers now was not the time.
During Monday night’s Administration and Finance Committee Meeting, Council CFO Bart Brown said the money from the raise could come from the interest generated in the city’s Fiscal Stability Fund. However Republicans have said that money can only be used for roads, pre-K and to maintain the city’s credit rating.
Shortly after a news conference on the near east side with Employ Indy, Mayor Hogsett said if the Council wants to give itself a raise then the money should come out of it’s own budget. He said the Fiscal Stability fund was off the table.
You can hear the Mayor in the Leon-Tailored Audio above. It runs under four minutes. He also talks about the criminal justice center as well as grants for at-risk youth for mentoring and job training.
Three Democrats as well as all 12 Council Republicans have indicated they will not vote for this pay raise proposal.
