Inweekly asked Pensacola voters if they supported the city council increasing the mayor’s salary from $100,000 to $125,000:
Yes | 21% |
No | 68% |
Undecided | 11% |
The Political Matrix conducted the poll on March 1 using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology. The numbers used were supplied by the Escambia County Supervisor of Elections office. The persons called were voters who voted in each of the last six elections. The numbers were randomized upon implementation of the study and 485 completed studies were collected. The Margin of Error for this poll is +/- 4%.
We will publish the city district breakdowns on Monday.
By the way, if the City Council members feel so strongly about giving a $25,000 pay raise to a Mayor who says he can moonlight in a private job on the side and will not show up at City Council meetings as required by law because he says no one can make him then perhaps the ordinance giving the Mayor a pay raise should be amended to provide that the $25,000 will come from a reduction in the salary of City Council members who voted themselves a 54% pay raise in 2016 after abolishing the citizens Compensation Task Force that has for decades met to set the salaries of City Council members. By my math, a $25,000 pay raise for the Mayor works out to a $3,571 pay cut for each of seven City Council members. As a reminder, it was in July 2016 that District 4’s very own Councilman Johnson proposed abolishing the Compensation Task Force (a point I do not recall the PNJ mentioning) and he proposed raising his salary to $37,226 because he said being on the Pensacola City Council took up more than 40 hours of work each week. Councilman Terhaar said the same. Councilwoman Cannada-Wynn proposed a lower pay raise this time around saying that the public might get too upset if they did it in one lump vice multiple steps. Councilwoman Myers rightly pointed out that City Council members deserved a pay cut. Myers and Councilman Bare voted NO opposed to the 54% pay raise. An angry Councilman Wu then turned to Myers and scolded her, “We deserve a pay raise.” In truth, the amount paid to City Council members has nothing to do with the quality of the people who run for office as seen when comparing Pensacola to Gulf Breeze whose City Council members do the same or more than Pensacola City Council members and do it better and without all the drama for a symbolic $1 a year. In sum, three miles apart we have a culture of public service (Gulf Breeze) versus a culture of personal greed (Pensacola). As a reminder, Councilman Spencer said in 2016 that he did not believe he deserved a pay raise but voted for it anyway and promised to donate his increased salary to a charity. Perhaps someone might want to find out to which charity he donated his 54% pay raise from December 2016 to present. Apopka is cited as one of the city’s Mayor Hayward had his staff look at before telling Council President Wingate to give him a $25,000 pay raise. For the record, in addition to the Apopka Mayor having significantly broader duties that Pensacola’s Mayor to include the Apopka Mayor being responsible for the daily operations of the city government (a duty of the City Administrator in Pensacola) and the Mayor being the leader of the City Commission too as in many other Mayor-Council forms of government to include Orlando and Charleston, Apopka’s Commissioners are paid $13,500 a year. Apopka’s elections will be held later this month. There are eight candidates vying for the two Commission openings. By comparison, Pensacola has one candidate vying for three City Council openings seemingly good evidence that the City Council can be reduced by two seats and no one would notice.