Raise questions raised

“I’m really disappointed in her,” Tobe said in a phone interview. “I will be looking at other options for Third Ward now, I guess.”

With Boles’ vote, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero will see a pay raise to $128,400, up from $107,000. Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope will start receiving $87,066, up from $72,555. Meanwhile, the Council president, who receives $22,200 a year, will see a salary bump to $26,640. The vice president will see a jump from $20,950 to $25,140, while Council members will increase from $20,200 to $24,240. Those raises go into effect on July 1, the beginning of the city’s new fiscal year.

The core of the debate over the raises was the significant percentage. The city has been struggling with deficit budgets for years, and the upcoming budget will be only the second budget to show a net gain in years. Council members have not received a pay increase for 13 years, while Swope and Bernero have both received raises more recently.

The new compensation was set by a committee whose members are nominated by the mayor and appopinted by the Council and that can only legally approve two years’ worth of raises at a time. City Council had 30 days to reject the pay raises by a two-thirds majority vote, or they go into effect.

Those who opposed the raise argued that it was too big when residents still face high levels of unemployment, foreclosure and poverty. Those for it argued that city employees have received about the same percentage in salary increases over the last decad.

Boles defended her vote.

“I wanted to make sure it was an open and transparent process,” she said Monday night in an interview. “My principle concern was to make sure it was discussed.”

She cast the deciding vote, which led to the failure of a resolution to reject the raises, even though she said she had “called the city clerk to make sure” her name was added to it as a sponsor.

“I didn’t change my position,” she said. She said her actions were a series of deliberate moves to keep the resolution and discussion on the pay raise public.

Boles said she’s unsure she will keep the increase for herself.

“My gut right now is to use it for the snow sergeant program,” she said. The program is her brainchild introduced to calm fears that the elderly and disabled would get saddled with sidewalk citations over the winter.

In interviews with other opponents of the pay raise, all but new Councilman Vincent Delgado have decided to donate their raises to various charities.

“I haven’t decided yet,” he said when asked if was going to keep the pay raise or donate it. Delgado was appointed in February to fill out the remainder of Derrick Quinney’s at-large term. Quinney resigned from Council to accept the post of Ingham County register of deeds.

First Ward City Councilwoman Jody Washington said she will donate all of hers to the Lansing Food Bank She authored the resolution to reject the pay raises.

Fourth Ward Councilwoman Jessica Yorko said she will donate to local charities from her increase.

“I´ll be making donations to Haven House, City Rescue Mission, The Women´s Center of Greater Lansing, the Greater Lansing Food Bank, and Habitat for Humanity, among others,”Yorko said by email Monday night.

At-Large Councilwoman Judy Brown Clarke said she already donates “a good portion” of her salary to charity, mostly “youth sports and family friendly events,” and intends to increase those donations using the pay raise cash.

“I am going to donate my raise to charity,” said Carol Wood, another atlarge Councilwoman. “There are some charities that I support on regular basis and the possibility of some new ones with the raise.”