Minneapolis City Council approves $10,000 raise for new mayor and council

The new Minneapolis mayor and City Council members will receive a $10,000 raise after a last-minute resolution passed without discussion at the final council meeting of the year.

The council approved the one-time pay hike Dec. 15, bringing their salaries up to $98,695. Mayor-elect Jacob Frey, who voted as a council member, will make $126,528.

Council President Barb Johnson, who lost her bid for re-election in November, introduced the resolution, and the council approved it unanimously. In addition to the raise, the resolution provides the mayor and council members with salary increases each year for the remainder of their four-year terms.

The $140,000 to pay for the raises was not included in the $1.4 billion 2018 budget, which the council adopted with a 13-0 vote Dec. 6. As part of the Dec. 15 resolution, the council voted to pull money from seven city departments to fund the pay increase.

In a statement Friday, city spokeswoman Sarah McKenzie said that the city is not anticipating those cuts will negatively impact current services.

"The increase to elected official salaries constitutes less than one one-hundredth of one percent of the city's 2018 budget," the statement said. "Each of the affected departments also saw increases for new initiatives in the 2018 Council-adopted budget that were above and beyond current service levels."

The resolution did not go through any council committees.

Johnson added it to the agenda at the beginning of the meeting, along with an amendment to the city's 2018 legislative agenda and a resolution honoring Frey for his time on the council.

Joe Radinovich, Frey's campaign manager and incoming chief of staff, said in a prepared statement that the council's "unanimous vote brings our city's public officials' compensation to a level consistent with those of surrounding jurisdictions and those of similar sizes."

Johnson did not respond to a request for a comment.

State statute allows council members to decide their salaries and the mayor's salary before their terms begin. In 2009 and 2013, the council approved pay increases tied to inflation, McKenzie said.

But during the past 15 years — the period for which city data are available — the council has never approved a salary increase of this size.

Still, there are higher-paid employees at City Hall. The police chief, city attorney, public works director, city coordinator and other department heads have salaries tens of thousands of dollars higher than the mayor and council members.

Earlier this month, the state gave the city permission to lift employee salary caps that keep municipal employee pay at 110 percent of the governor's $127,629 salary. As a result, some Minneapolis employees could make as much as $200,000 a year.

Several council members, including Johnson, will not return in 2018 to benefit from the salary bump. Three council members — Johnson, John Quincy and Blong Yang — were unseated in the Nov. 7 election. Council Vice President Elizabeth Glidden did not seek re-election, and Frey left his council seat to run for mayor.

Emma Nelson • 612-673-4509