Although the proposal passed out of committee Tuesday night by a vote of 5-3, a majority of the Indianapolis City-County Council opposes an ordianance that would give the body a 119 percent pay raise.
Proposal 446 would raise the Council’s base pay from $11,400 to $25,000, costing the taxpayers an additional $340,000 that was not included in the budget passed this year.
Co-author, Democrat Zach Adamson say the Council has not had a raise since 2001 and members are underpaid when it comes to peer cities.
However, all 12 Council Republicans as well as three Democrats oppose the measure.
Although they voted to move the proposal to the full body, both Councilors David Ray and Blake Johnson say they cannot vote for the proposal. While they agree Council members do likely need more pay, the raise should have been included in the current budget and the timing of such a raise would be wrong. Councilor Jared Evans added he opposes the raise when constituents in his district who work for Carrier and Rexnord are facing layoffs.
Council Chief Financial Officer Bart Brown says the money for the raise would come from interest from the city’s Fiscal Stability Fund which Indianapolis has used to keep its credit rating.
The full measure goes before the Council next Monday, however is no current votes change, it would fail 15 against and 11 in support.
