Divided Scranton council passes pay raises for its members and mayor

Yahoo

29-01-2025

In a pair of 3-2 votes, a split Scranton City Council on Tuesday raised the salaries for the mayor and council members to take effect in 2026.
Council President Gerald Smurl, Bill King and Jessica Rothchild voted in favor of adopting the pay-raise ordinances, while Mark McAndrew and Tom Schuster voted against the salary increases, according to an Electric City Television simulcast and video posted on YouTube.
The pay of the mayor will rise from $75,000 to $95,000, a 27% increase of $20,000; while the pay of council members will increase from $12,500 each to $18,000, a 44% increase of $5,500, all effective Jan. 1, 2026.
Under the city's Home Rule Charter, council cannot authorize mayoral and council pay raises during current terms of office, but can raise salaries to take effect in the future.
The term of Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and the council seats held by Smurl, King and Schuster all expire at the end of 2025. Those positions will be available for nominations in the May 20 primary election and will have winners determined in the Nov. 4 general election.
The Scranton mayoral salary last was raised in phases from 2014 to 2017. Those mayoral salary increases were enacted in 2013 by then-outgoing Mayor Chris Doherty and outgoing council led by Janet Evans. Those phases increased the mayoral salary from $50,000 in 2013 to $60,000 in 2014, and then gave $5,000 bumps per year in 2015, 2016 and 2017, when the salary reached $75,000.
Council salaries have not risen since 1999.
The Home Rule Charter appeared to conflict on whether the council salary increases should apply to all five members at once, or if some members would have to wait longer to get a bump. So, council first amended the ordinance to clarify that the salary increases would apply to all five members come Jan. 1.
'When you look it at out of fairness, that makes sense. They (former enactors of the Home Rule Charter) certainly wouldn't want to establish a system where two or three members of council were receiving one level of pay, while two or three members were receiving a lower amount,' council solicitor Thomas Gilbride said.
McAndrew cast the lone vote against amending the clarification because he was against the pay raises all along. In voting against the salary increases, McAndrew said, 'People are struggling and I just don't have an appetite at this time.'
Schuster said of his dissent, 'I just feel my compensation is sufficient.'
Noting he will not run for reelection, King said the council pay raise is long overdue.
'In 1976, the salary for council was $7,000. Forty-nine years later — actually almost 50 years later, when this is fully enacted — I think (an) $11,000 (increase) is more than reasonable,' King said. 'I feel it's appropriate. That's why I'm supporting it.'
Council also voted 5-0 to adopt an ordinance to raise the salary of the tax collector next year from $53,300 to $72,000, in conjunction with the Scranton School District that pays for half of the salary.
The 35% raise of $18,700 amounts to about 2.5% per year since the last raise for tax collector, in 2011, Smurl previously said.
Council members noted the tax collector took on more duties last year and the pay raise is warranted.