This entry was posted on Friday, December 28th, 2007 at 7:10 pm and is filed under City Council, Mayor Lyn Truitt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Council members are receiving a bump up of 15 percent, while the vice mayor gets a 13 percent raise and the mayor a 7 percent hike. Salaries for the council and the vice mayor will be $20,242. The mayor will be paid $34,030.
The increase follows guidelines established in a City Council resolution approved in June 2004. Based on the resolution, in January of an election year, the city manager is tasked with comparing Surprise’s salaries with those of other Valley cities with populations ranging from 75,000 to 200,000.
This year, cities that met the qualifications for comparison were Gilbert, Peoria and Tempe. Surprise’s new salaries are the averages of the three cities.
After the increase, Surprise council members will receive higher salaries than those in Gilbert and Peoria, but less than Tempe council members.
Surprise’s new leaders include Mayor-elect Lyn Truitt and council members Richard Alton, John Williams and Roy Villanueva. Villanueva, a veteran of previous Surprise councils, had been out of office.
The new council will elect one of its own as vice mayor to replace Councilman Gary “Doc” Sullivan, who lost re-election in the fall.
Alton recently said he had not seen the new salary figures or their comparisons. However, he said serving on the council is a demanding job and pay should be comparable with Valley cities of similar size.
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Surprise City Council salaries
Shown are old and new salaries for Surprise’s elected leaders, and Valley comparisons on which they are based.
Surprise City Council
• Old salary: $17,557
• Old salary: $17,557• New salary: $20,242
• Increase: 15%
• Comparisons:
Gilbert, $15,600
Peoria, $19,224
Tempe, $25,902
Three-city average, $20,242
Surprise Vice Mayor
• Old salary: $17,857
• Old salary: $17,857• New salary: $20,242
• Increase: 13%
• Comparisons:
Gilbert, $15,600
Peoria, $19,224
Tempe, $25,902
Three-city average, $20,242
Mayor
• Old salary: $31,803
• Old salary: $31,803• New salary: $34,030
• Increase: 7%
• Comparisons:
Gilbert, $27,600
Peoria, $28,836
Tempe, $45,653
Three-city average: $34,030
Source: City of Surprise
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