Durango’s city councilors debated raising salaries for future councilors Tuesday.
The councilors floated the idea of increasing salaries for councilors from $6,000 per year to about $10,000. The mayor’s salary would increase from $9,000 per year to $15,000.
The raise for councilors would equate to making $10 an hour, up from $5.77.
The current salaries were set by law in 2005.
Any increase in pay would not go into effect for two years, if it is approved through the public-hearing process. Potentially, Mayor Dean Brookie and Councilor Keith Brant could benefit from the increase, if they are re-elected.
“It’s not the intent to have it as a full-time paid position. ... This is intended, I think, to at least be compensated for your time if you’re taking time off work to be at City Council,” said Councilor Christina Rinderle.
Councilor Sweetie Marbury suggested raising the salaries to the equivalent of minimum wage.
Pay should not be a motivating factor behind a campaign, she said.
“It’s that passion you want from your city councilor,” she said.
Because salaries don’t change often, councilors settled on $10 to keep pace with inflation.
The increase would put Durango’s city councilors’ pay above the average salaries of 15 towns with similar population, which is about $7,890.
In other action, the council informally agreed to invest about $30,000 in tourist marketing to attract more out-of-staters this year.
The money was left over from the 2014 lodgers tax fund, and the council agreed to give it to the Durango Area Tourism Office for a marketing campaign.
The campaign will focus on attracting people from New Mexico, west Texas and southern Arizona at the end of the summer, said Bob Kunkel, executive director of DATO.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Bob Kunkel’s name.
