As he heads into his final nine months of office, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said he would support an effort to increase the salary of his successor to bring the pay up to par with similar salaries across the nation.

Although a bill proposing to raise the mayor's annual salary above its current $95,000 has not been introduced in the City Council, the idea seems to have growing support among its 19 members.

Speculation that the council might raise the salary as high as $150,000 began about two weeks ago amid continued reports that NAACP President Kweisi Mfume might consider a run for mayor. By making an offer on a harbor condominium this month, Mfume appears to be putting himself in position to run. A bill working its way through the legislature would reduce the city residency requirement for the next mayor from one year to six months.

In addition to the residency change, supporters hoping to draft Mfume into the mayoral campaign see a pay boost as alluring. Mfume, who has repeatedly denied interest in running for the job, makes $220,000.

Schmoke, who is required to sign any pay-raise bill into law, said that he would do so, but not necessarily to attract a specific candidate into the race.

Since taking office in 1987, Schmoke has turned down two pay raises, pointing to the city's declining population. Over the past 12 years, the number of city residents has dropped by 70,000 to about 670,000.

"I think that the position deserves the increase," said Schmoke, whose term will expire in December. "I have simply been reluctant to do that myself. Some of it had to do with the fact that at the time the city is reducing population and we have our own budgetary constraints, to put myself over the $100,000 mark I just thought it was sending the wrong signal."

But the idea of raising the mayor's pay is meeting resistance. First District Councilwoman Lois Garey contends that the residency bill and talk of a pay raise hurt the city's reputation.

"It's ridiculous," Garey said. "If we have to change the residency bill and change the salary because we can't find one leader in this city, we might as well lock the gates and go home."

Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago, a city with four times the population of Baltimore, gets $170,000. In New York, the nation's largest city, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani takes home $165,000 a year. Washington Mayor Anthony A. Williams, who governs a city with 120,000 fewer people than Baltimore, is paid $90,705.

A 1997 survey conducted by the International City/County Management Association showed that the median pay for the chief elected leader in cities with a population between 500,000 and 1 million was $100,698. For cities with more than 1 million residents, the median pay is $133,004, according to the association's survey.

Council Vice President Agnes B. Welch, who serves as Schmoke's floor leader, said she supports the pay increase regardless of whether Mfume runs. Welch, of West Baltimore, notes that Schmoke is paid less than two of his department directors. Housing Commissioner Daniel P. Henson III and Public Works Director George G. Balog each earn $113,000 a year, on par with similar positions across the nation and $18,000 more than the mayor.

"I think it's ridiculous that department heads make more than the mayor," said Welch. "I don't think the [pay raise] is geared toward Kweisi and I don't think money is a consideration with Kweisi."

Southwest Baltimore Councilman Norman A. Handy Sr. also supports the mayoral pay increase but not as a hook for new candidates. "It's overdue," Handy said. "And it needs to be done at this point to be effective."

Pub Date: 3/29/99