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Almost one year to the day that the subject was originally brought up, the opportunity for Council to increase compensation for newly elected borough officials may come to an end.

On October 24th, 2016, Councilman Robert Lewis made a motion to increase the current compensation amount.

A secondary motion resulted in Council tabling it to the next Council meeting.

The subject was brought up again at the following meeting in November 2016, where I made a motion to table discussions of any pay raise until August 2017, when we could better evaluate our own performance, to determine if a raise would be justified.

It was eventually voted to revisit the subject in June, 2017.

June came and went with no action taken on the tabled motion. The subject also didn’t come up during meetings held in July, August, September, or the last meeting held this past October 9th.

Raises for newly elected officials must be approved by a majority of Council members before the next election, to be held on Tuesday, November 7th. Raises would not be given to mid-term officials until their elections are determined in 2020.

Currently, the pay for Council members is $900/yr. The Council President and Mayor receive $1050/yr., before taxes. I have been unable to locate any past Minutes of any Council that indicates when this compensation rate was determined by a vote of Council, as it should have been done.

Pennsylvania’s Title 8, which lists maximum pays allowed, determines the amounts by the number of residents in each borough. Title 8 was last adjusted in 1995.

Currently, the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs has submitted Resolution 2017-9,  to Harrisburg, supporting a raise in the maximum amount Title 8 allows borough officials to be paid.