Rehoboth commissioners discuss raises for themselves

Rehoboth Beach’s elected officials get paid for their service, but it’s been decades since that pay was increased. That may change as part of the budgeting process for the city’s next fiscal year.

It’s an issue that’s been brought up in passing before, but was discussed at length during a budget workshop Feb. 10. The annual salary for Rehoboth’s elected officials is $1,000 for mayor; $750 for secretary; $600 for commissioner.

Suzanne Goode is the commissioner primarily pushing for the increase. She said the time commitment expected of Rehoboth commissioners is too high. With an endless stream of special meetings, the volume of work has ballooned, she said, suggesting the annual amount be $20,000 for the mayor and $10,000 for commissioners.

Additionally, said Goode, if commissioners were paid more, it might attract a better cadre of candidates.

City Manager Taylour Tedder presented commissioners with information comparing their annual salaries with surrounding communities and towns of similar size and budget. Rehoboth’s officials are on the very low end, he said.

It’s a mixed bag. The Lewes mayor gets $4,000, while council members get $3,000; the Seaford mayor receives $6,450, while council members get $4,850; the Newark mayor receives $18,700, while council members get $15,600; the Milford mayor receives $600 per month, while council gets $100 per month; in College Park, Md., the mayor earns $15,000, the mayor pro tem gets $12,500, and council members receive $10,000.

Tedder said commissioners are allowed to increase the annual salary, but aren’t allowed to give themselves an immediate raise. Instead, if an increase is approved, it gets applied after the next election, he said.

Mayor Stan Mills said Goode wasn’t wrong about the increase in the number of meetings, but he didn’t think an increase in salary would produce better candidates. Mills suggested a per-meeting pay schedule, instead of an annual salary. That way, he said, commissioners wouldn’t get paid when absent.

Commissioner Mark Saunders said he could understand a slight increase, but not as high as Goode’s proposal. It hasn’t been looked at in 30 years, and an increase of a token amount might be warranted, he said.

Commissioner Patrick Gossett said he didn’t run for office for the money. He said he didn’t think increasing the annual salary to $10,000 would have an impact on the caliber of candidates. Commissioners shouldn’t take priority over any city staff, he said. 

Commissioners Francis “Bunky” Markert and Craig Thier said they chose to run for office knowing it was essentially a volunteer position.

Ultimately, there were no decisions made on the subject. The rest of the meeting was spent going department by department.

Tedder has presented commissioners with a budget for next year, which begins April 1, that’s nearly $44 million. He began the workshop by going over a number of changes to the budget since the first workshop – an additional $1.14 million in capital contributions for wastewater outfall and plant upgrades; an additional $300,000 for legal services; removal of an in-house legal counsel position ($227,000) and an accounting assistant ($66,000); an addition of $100,000 for the city to begin a code rewrite; an increase in street engineering of $75,000; a decrease of $75,000 because a line item for temporary bathrooms has been removed.

As commissioners moved through departments, the topic of hiring additional staff brought the most attention. A new staff member is proposed for the IT department, and there was a new city planner proposed, but commissioners decided not to go forward with that hire. 

There’s significant reluctance to do any new hiring, said Thier, adding he would also like to do anything possible to reduce consulting costs. The city has to wean itself off those, he said.

Goode said she’s concerned about personnel growth at city hall when the city itself isn’t growing.

As of now, there’s a $3-per-hour pay increase slated for beach patrol lifeguards that would cost an additional $300,000.

Jean Lee, the city’s human resources director, said the increase is needed to compete with surrounding communities. The beach patrol captain had a number of lifeguards tell him they weren’t returning next year because other towns and the state parks pay more, she said.

Rehoboth commissioners are slated to resume budget discussions at 9 a.m., Friday, Feb. 21.