"I do think it is important to keep part-time local legislators who are citizens with other careers, as opposed to full-time legislators that too easily become embedded in government bureaucracy," she said.
"You don't want pay to be the driving reason for someone to run for office, nor do you want it to be a deterrent," Fox said.
The last commission in 2005, mindful of a council salary that had only minimally changed in the previous two terms and was second-lowest in the region, recommended boosting pay from $33,800 to $49,000 a year, plus annual automatic cost-of-living adjustments to prevent any lag. The executive's pay rose 8 percent from $125,000 to $147,000, plus the annual COLA, which is based on the area consumer price index. Now Howard's salaries are mid-range; much higher than Anne Arundel, Harford or Carroll, close to Baltimore and Baltimore County, but far below Montgomery and Prince George's counties.
Ulman is now paid $158,675, while council members are paid $52,892 plus $1,000 for the chairman. They are due their final increase this term - of .957 percent - on Dec. 4.
The automatic raises last December caused embarrassment, when Howard's elected officials got a 4.9 percent pay raise just as the downturn was decimating people's investment savings, throwing thousands out of work, and causing home foreclosures galore.
Ulman quickly pledged to donate his $7,412 raise to charity after paying taxes, and County Council members Fox, Watson and Sigaty followed suit with the council's $2,471 raise.
That has blunted any serious fallout, unlike Baltimore City officials, who were accused of trying to conceal their pay raises just before Thanksgiving with a Board of Estimates agenda that listed the increases next to coded numbers instead of job titles.
All of Howard's elected officials are also donating 1.5 percent of their total pay, or five days' wages after taxes, back to the county in solidarity with county employees, who are losing four or five days' pay in December to help balance the county budget.
Howard's executive is now slightly better-paid than his counterparts in Towson ($150,000) and Baltimore City ($151,700), while County Council members make a bit less than legislators in those two jurisdictions.
The regional bargain for taxpayers are the Harford County officials, where executive David Craig is paid $99,317 and council members make $34,205, with $3,300 more for the chairman.
Voters like Pat Dornan, who unsuccessfully tried to block a 2004 local income tax increase with a petition drive, are watching.
"The automatic pay raise for any elected official is a travesty. That's just not right," he said.
"At this time, given the economic circumstances, you don't get a raise," he said.
Salaries for elected officials
County Executive Ken Ulman is paid $158,675 a year under the current law. Members of the County Council (left) are paid $52,892, with the chair, Mary Kay Sigaty, making an additional $1,000 a year.
A seven-member Compensation Review Commission will study the issue and make pay recommendations by Dec. 15. The County Council will then vote on salaries for the next county executive and council, starting in 2010.
