On Tuesday, the Richmond City Council agreed to an 80 percent pay raise to their monthly salary.
Like many other cities, the move was justified using senate Bill 329 using 5% over 15-years resulted in the large increase with the mayor’s salary jumping from $3,875 to $6,975. For councilmembers, they jump from $1,402.50 per month to $2,524.50 per month.
Mayor Eduardo Martinez justified the raise citing it “these are 24-7 jobs” and it was difficult to say how many hours he puts in along with preparation time. He also said during vacations, they work during vacation time. He also said he was working during the Christmas holidays.
“This is not an easy job,” said Martinez. “Because of the work this council has done, we are in better shape than we ever were.”
He also said they had 98 boards they had to serve on and divide that by 7-members of the council and the public would see the work being done.
“If anyone would like to shadow me to see how much work I do, you are welcome to do so,” said Martinez.
Councilmember Melvin Willis supported the raise citing the amount of work they do and asked the public how many people could live on $1,402 per month.
“If you ant your council to be successful, responsive, and pay attention to all the needs of the city, the council needs to be set up for success,” said Willis noting while serving on the council has had to hold another job which split his time.
Vice Mayor Claudia Jimenez shared she believed that enabling lower income residents run for office, that councilmembers become sustainable. She said under the current salary, a single mom could not run for office.
“Right now, the people who are able to do this job well are more privileged. Its rich people retired people, or people supported by their spouses. Or has a full-time job that allows them to leave and this is a side thing they are doing,” explained Jimenez.
She continued.
“I work really hard to get the city out of the swamps and that saves the city $84 million and raised the city’s credit rating two times in one year. And this is the work that we have been doing,” stated Jimenez.
Councilmember Soheila Bana shared she doesn’t need the money as she and her husband have pensions, but said she wished she could have afforded to run for council 10-years ago. She called having kids “expensive” and asked the community if they wanted retired people or privileged people running for office.
“City Council is the basis for the pipelines that feed to congress. If you do not have social economic diversity at the low level, who will go up?” explained Bana. “If I was young, 20-years ago, I might have had a shot at Congress, but now at this age, after retiring, this is the ultimate office I can dream of. It shouldn’t be like that. We should have people who represent us, be like us of socioeconomic diversity at the top level.”
She also added, for those who do not like the people on the council, with higher pay, you may get more people running for office who think like you.
The council voted unanimously to approve the pay raise for both the mayor and council.
Editors Notes: Recent Pay Raises Around Contra Costa County
- Aug 28, 2024 – Antioch City Council Approves Pay Raise
- Aug 17, 2023 – Concord City Council Votes to Increase Monthly Pay to $1900
- Aug 14, 2023 – Oakley City Council Pay Could Increase by $800 per Month
- July 3, 2023 – City Council Pay Cap Bill Signed Into Law
- Aug 24, 2022 – Brentwood City Council Approves 22.5% Pay Increase
Richmond Uses Outdated Council Pay Salary Survey
Below is a document used in the staff report highlighting council pay, however, its dated given multiple cities since summer of 2023 have increased pay–Antioch, Brentwood, Concord, Oakley (omitted from their survey) have all taken pay increases.
Here is the graphic:
Source – council pay document
Staff Report – click here
