Amidst a crowded council chamber with people bearing signs to “Vote No” Thursday night, a move to increase pay for city leaders was struck down for the time being.
At the Nov. 10 regular meeting, the Taylor City Council voted 3-2 against Ordinance 2022-43, which would have raised the pay for city leaders from $25 dollars to $1,200 per month for council members, and from $25 to $1,500 month for the mayor’s position.
“This is hard, it really is,” said District 4 Councilman Robert Garcia, who changed his mind from his original vote in favor of the increase, joining District 2 Councilman Mitchell Drummond and At-large Councilman Dwayne Ariola in their opposition. “We can raise our compensation, and I think everybody up here deserves a raise in the compensation, but this is a point where the citizens need to have that input.”
Though there has been a consensus both on social media and at the meetings that some kind of a pay increase is needed, a large contingent of constituents showed up Thursday to voice their opposition to the increase without citizen input.
“The council giving itself a raise is against modern customs,” said Taylor resident Michael Roberts. “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.”
Former Public Works Director Matt Rector said he would like to see leaders motivated by service and not by money, and that this raise is questionable when many city projects have not been addressed for many years.
“We can’t fix the roads. We can’t fix the water lines. We can’t fix the sewer lines. We can’t take care of the animal shelter. We can’t pay our police officers, but yet somehow, now miraculously, we are going to come up with $80,000 extra every year to give you guys a big pay raise?” Rector said. “I’m not saying I am against compensation. I’m just saying that I think that’s a misappropriation of funds.”
Other speakers who came up to the podium complained that citizen input was being ignored, that Georgetown’s model for the increase was unsuitable for Taylor due to its smaller budget and size, that the increase was being fast-tracked, that the proposed increase was not discussed during the budgeting process, among other concerns.
However, resident Janetta McCoy came addressed council with several likeminded citizens who applauded the council for its work and urged them to make the positions compensated fairly, so that people of all economic backgrounds can participate.
“So the current stipend of $25, everyone seems to agree that’s kind of silly because what does $25 buy you?” McCoy said. “Well, it can buy you two meals at Whataburger, and that includes French fries, or it could be three gallons of milk at H-E-B.”
McCoy said the council should be treated as servants, “not slaves,” and be acknowledged for the important work it does.
“Your time is often spent in creativity and thoughtfulness and research that has brought Taylor into the 21st century, all of this while faced with seemingly constant and ugly complaining,” McCoy said. “Your charge is to make a variety of unique decisions over time, sometimes momentous decisions, and you all have participated in that in the last couple of years about the growth and the potential prosperity of this city.”
Garcia said he had received hundreds of emails, phone calls and Facebook posts about the issue and talked about the difficulties associated with his position.
“The reason I’m on council is because I love doing what I do,” Garcia said. “I love serving the community, even for those individuals that may not view my decisions the way I do. But one thing I didn’t sign up for is actual credible death threats where the police have to do close patrols around my house. I didn’t sign up for unwanted visitors who feel that they can just come by my house and walk around my house. That’s something I didn’t sign up for… that’s unfortunately the political atmosphere that we are in these days, it truly is.”
Though the motion failed, Mayor Brandt Rydell said the issue would be revisited at a later time.
