This is the time of year Indiana cities are fashioning their 2017 spending plans. Carmel and Fishers are in the final stages of that process, and there are stark differences in how it’s going in the neighboring cities.
Because we are three years away from the next city balloting in Indiana, if elected officials want to raise their own compensation, now is the time to do that. Carmel and Fishers are doing some of that, but in different ways.
Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard is asking the city council to raise his pay by 40%, to $179,344. Contrast that with Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness’ request that his salary remain the same, at $125,000 a year, even though most other Fishers city workers will see a 3% pay raise in 2017.
Fishers City Council members have not seen a salary increase since the early 1990s, going back to the days of the town council. Their pay has been $12,000 annually for a very long time. Council members decided to propose raising their pay by $7,000 a year to $19,000 in 2017.
Carmel council members are raising their annual pay by 28% next year to $22,167.
Fishers City Clerk Jennifer Kehl registered her objections to only getting a 3% pay raise next year during a City Council Finance Committee meeting, when council members are giving themselves a large pay increase.
Then there is the soap opera playing out in Carmel with their Clerk-Treasurer. I can’t summarize that one…I recommend you read IBJ’s Lindsey Erdody’s story at this link.
IndyStar columnist Matt Tully is taking what he admits is an unpopular position that elected officials sometime deserve increases in their compensation. You can read Mr. Tully’s comments at this link.
Keep in mind that as I write this piece, the budgets and salary ordinances are not yet final in Fishers or Carmel. But there is one aspect of this that puzzles me.
On social media, every time I wrote a story about Fishers council members considering a pay raise for themselves, there would be blistering comments posted, very critical of the idea. But when the council held a public hearing on the 2017 budget last month, one person spoke, and that person complimented the city.
Where were all the critics at the public hearing? They were nowhere to be found. The only conclusion I can draw is this: people get very worked-up and brave online but do not wish to face council members if they are opposed to this pay hike. That tells me some people are unhappy about the council pay raise, but not that unhappy.