There will be no pay raise for Howard County Council members for at least two years, but County Executive James N. Robey's salary is to rise 2.2 percent Wednesday - his second increase this term.
Robey's pay will be $131,966, nearly $7,000 a year more than the $125,000 starting executive salary the council approved before the last local election, thanks to an automatic inflation adjustment the members included.
"What they did for the executive is very fair. It allows you to keep pace with inflation," Robey said, adding that in his view, council pay was left too low.
In his last term, Robey's executive pay was $98,500 - lower than his salary as police chief in 1997. Nearly 20 county employees earned more.
The council members' pay remains unchanged since 1998 at $33,800 - next to the lowest in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Harford County is the lowest at $31,000, while Baltimore City is highest at $48,000. Anne Arundel's council members earn $36,000, and Baltimore County pays $45,000 a year, the same as Carroll County's three commissioners.
A postelection attempt to raise Baltimore City Council pay 6 percent was withdrawn last week after public objections.
Political pay is always a touchy subject for elected officials. Although a decision is at least a year off on pay levels for those elected in November 2006, Howard council members' opinions vary, reflecting that caution.
Chairman Guy Guzzone, a North Laurel-Savage Democrat, was the deciding vote against a council pay raise in 2002 but not because he felt there shouldn't be one. The commission had recommended a $35,000 salary for the new term, with the same inflation escalator that the executive received.
But with the county facing a projected $18 million budget shortfall that year, Republicans Allan H. Kittleman of West Friendship and Ellicott City's Christopher J. Merdon objected, even to skipping a raise for just that one year, and Guzzone went along.
Council Democrats accused Merdon and Kittleman of playing politics before the 2002 election, which the Republicans denied.
"I didn't vote for it last time because why open up a big political brawl? For an extra few hundred dollars it didn't seem worth all the aggravation politically," Guzzone said.
Now, Guzzone feels council pay has fallen behind. The issue, he said, is "a matter of attracting quality people who don't have independent means to participate in the process. It's a fairness issue."
Kittleman, who resigned his council seat last month to take his late father's state Senate seat, said he had no problem with paying the executive more.
"The executive is a full-time position, and he manages a budget of nearly $1 billion," Kittleman said.
The part-time council position is another matter, though. "The council, I don't think, is underpaid. Nobody does it as a full-time job," Kittleman said, adding that the pay could stay at $33,800 through the next term, too, in his view.
Charles C. Feaga, Kittleman's replacement on the council, said he opposes salaries so generous they attract candidates just for the pay, but "the County Council probably should get a small percentage increase" next time.
Merdon felt a 2 percent to 3 percent council increase (about $1,000) might be called for if economic conditions remain stable. In 2002, "we didn't know if county employees would get a raise," he said.
First-term council members Ken Ulman and David A. Rakes, both Columbia Democrats, said members work long hours and a raise next term might be appropriate.
"It's a full-time job, no matter what anyone says, Ulman said."
"It's not for ourselves, but for people coming behind us," Rakes said.
Under the law, each council votes on pay rates for those elected after them. A citizens commission will make recommendations in late 2005, and the council will vote by early 2006 on salaries to take effect in December 2006, after the next election.
Robey's pay rose by 3.3 percent in December, to $129,125, before this year's 2.2 percent increase. He also gets the use of a county vehicle.
The council, in Robey's view, "made a mistake" by defeating the last proposal - a $1,200 a year boost. "They were looking politically at the perception they were giving themselves a raise. That's ridiculous," he said.
