Some Annapolis residents criticized last night a proposed pay cut for City Council members.
"Some of you I don't always agree with, but I think you deserve a raise," community activist Bertina Nick said at a council hearing. "You don't deserve a decrease."
A Salary Review Commission appointed by the council recommended last month that the mayor's pay be cut from $52,000 to $40,000 a year and council members' from $8,500 to $5,000. The commission, made up of former aldermen, also recommended eliminating the mayor's $4,000-a-year expense account.
The new pay structure would go into effect in 1997, after the next city elections.
Council members are almost certain to reject the findings when they meet March 13. At that time, the council is expected to vote on a bill sponsored by 7th Ward Alderman M. Theresa DeGraff that would toss out the panel's recommendations and enable the council to appoint a new salary review board.
At last night's public hearing, residents came to the council's defense.
"You don't pay anything, you don't get anything," said Morris Blum, who recommended salary increases when he chaired the Salary Review Commission in the late 1980s. "I don't see how in the name of reasonableness you people should be cut in salary," he said.
The commission's most contentious proposal was the cut in the mayor's salary, because several aldermen hope to run for that post in the next election, according to council members.
Mayor Alfred A. Hopkins is in his second term and forbidden by the City Charter from running for a third consecutive term.
The commission stated in a letter to the council that in the spirit of fiscal restraint and smaller government, the mayor and the eight alder men should trim the city's $37 million budget by starting with their own salaries.
The panel said it was following the desires of voters for downsizing government as demonstrated in last year's congressional elections.
Several aldermen complained that the commission's findings were too political and had nothing to do with the demands of running a growing city. Some aldermen are trying to secure more money so that they can lease office space or hire support staff.
The salary issue has reignited a larger debate about the way Annapolis city government works.
The city operates under what is generally referred to as the weak-mayor form of government. Under that setup, the mayor presides at council meetings but has only one vote on the council and little additional authority to run the city.
Since 1965, aldermen have been discussing whether to update that system to match other growing cities. Several studies are under way to explore changes.