Burbank Council Members Vote Themselves Salary Raise

Members of the Burbank City Council voted Tuesday night to give themselves their first pay raise in five years.

By a vote of 4-1, the council approved a pay increase that will raise their salaries from $600 to $765 a month effective Jan. 1.

Councilman Tim Murphy cast the dissenting vote. Councilman Thomas Flavin said he supported the raise because the council annually grants cost-of-living raises to other elected officials, such as the city treasurer and clerk, and council members are equally deserving.

The five part-time council members have not received a salary increase since Jan. 1, 1985, when a voter-approved ordinance went into effect setting salaries at the same level that council members receive, by state law, in some similar-sized cities.

The ordinance called for a maximum 5% cost-of-living raise to be voted on annually by the council. The votes were never taken because of an oversight by city staff, who recently discovered the discrepancy while reviewing salary provisions for elected officials, a city official said.

Tuesday’s action brings council salaries to what they would have been if the raises had been enacted for the last five years.

Council members have said they spend an average of 20 to 30 hours a week on council business.