Rexburg Council To Vote On Mayor Pay Raise

The Rexburg City Council voted Wednesday night on whether to allow a $5,472 raise for the city’s mayor.

When the vote concluded, the pay raises for both the city council and the mayor were not approved.

The raise proposal came amid high unemployment rates around the nation and the state, but they jobless rates are lower in Madison county County at 6.4 percent. Rexburg is even lower at 5.9 percent.

Even before Richard Woodland became the mayor of Rexburg, an ordinance was in place to allow the city council to consider a cost of living increase to the mayor’s salary every two years.

Rexburg’s chief financial officer , Richard Horner, said that increasing the pay allows for more qualified candidates.

“There are some people who cannot afford to not get paid,” said Horner.

Mayor Woodland said that he wants the city to be able to give raises to others before the mayor’s office.

“You have to lead by example. If you want them to be spend thrift spendthrift, so to speak, then we have to set that example,” said Woodland.

Horner said that even if a raise was approved, it will only be a small scratch in the budget.

“A couple thousand more in these salaries is pretty minor,” said Horner.

Woodland also said that the job is more than just money.

“I hope that no one would say, ‘Well, he is just another politician’. That would devastate me,” said Woodland.

Last year, the city was able to give cost of living raises to all 120 full-time employees, something they weren’t it wasn’t able to do the two years previous.

Just a couple weeks ago, Pocatello’s mayor, Brian Blad, was in favor of the council allowing him a $3,000 raise after overcoming a $2 million deficit; however, the council rejected the pay increase.