{"id":2443285,"date":"2019-04-22T22:32:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T04:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-electeds-shoot-down-pay-raises\/"},"modified":"2019-04-23T07:27:24","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T13:27:24","slug":"aspen-electeds-shoot-down-pay-raises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-electeds-shoot-down-pay-raises\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen electeds shoot down pay raises"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The idea of giving Aspen\u2019s elected officials a pay increase was shot down Monday when a majority of City Council members voted to kick the can to their successors to decide if future political leaders should earn a living wage.<\/p>\n

Council members and the mayor have not seen a pay raise for 18 years, which is why an increase of $200 per month was on the table.<\/a><\/p>\n

Council members currently make an annual salary of $20,700 and the mayor $27,900, plus health insurance benefits.<\/p>\n

The five members currently serving on council are either self-employed or retired and live in free-market housing each valued at between $500,000 and $5 million. Collectively,<\/a> their residential properties are valued at more than $13.5 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a little financially hubristic for all of us and our situations to stand up here and not try to tackle this on a level of substance,\u201d said Councilman Adam Frisch, adding that serving in public office is a honor but that only goes so far; it doesn\u2019t pay the rent, mortgage or a ski pass.<\/p>\n

Frisch, whose second and final four-year term is drawing to a close, brought the pay increase forward to his colleagues.<\/p>\n

He argued that council salaries should be increased to roughly $30,000 and the mayor\u2019s salary to around $40,000 \u2014 to adjust for inflation since 2001.<\/p>\n

Frisch said compensation should continue to be adjusted and indexed to reflect inflation. Adjusting the pay rate for elected officials would draw a wider variety of candidates who, if elected, wouldn\u2019t have to rely on a full-time job and try to fulfill what is at least a 20-hour-a-week job.<\/p>\n

A more diverse set of candidates would give better representation on council, specifically working-class citizens who have children in the school system or live in deed-restricted housing, Frisch noted.<\/p>\n

Prior to Monday\u2019s meeting, City Attorney Jim True suggested a more modest pay increase at the direction of Mayor Steve Skadron.<\/p>\n

At first reading on a proposed ordinance increasing pay by $200 a month, council voted 3-1 on a motion made by Councilman Ward Hauenstein to table the proposal.<\/p>\n

He said $200 per month doesn\u2019t do justice to the position, adding that it\u2019s inappropriate for the current council to decide how much future ones should make, citing the lame-duck session underway until newly electeds take office in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fully support a raise in pay. \u2026 The amount of time put into this position warrants more pay,\u201d Hauenstein said. \u201cIt\u2019s a losing proposition monetarily to serve on City Council for all of the stress and everything else associated with it. I would support something more in line with the cost of living increase \u2026 (but) I do not feel it is proper for us at this point to make a decision. I want a more robust discussion on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hauenstein was able to get support from Skadron and Councilwoman Ann Mullins to kill the ordinance. Councilman Bert Myrin was absent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an important enough discussion to have a full council seated and have a robust conversation to move forward with any kind of salary adjustment,\u201d Mullins said. \u201cI think a decision tonight is premature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frisch had hoped for further consideration among his colleagues and dialogue with the public before the second reading of the ordinance, which would have been during a special meeting May 6.<\/p>\n

The bump in pay would\u2019ve benefited incoming council members Skippy Mesirow and Rachel Richards, along with mayor-elect Torre; they will be sworn in on June 10.<\/p>\n

Before salaries were raised 18 years ago, council members earned $14,400 and the mayor $20,700. It was the first pay raise Aspen\u2019s public officeholders had received since 1996.<\/p>\n

By comparison, Pitkin County commissioners receive $84,665 a year, which is established by the state Legislature.<\/p>\n

When comparing salaries of elected officials in other ski resort towns, Aspen lands in the middle. The most a mayor or a council member makes in the region is in Park City, Utah, where the position commands $44,477 and $22,975 a year, respectively.<\/p>\n

In Colorado ski towns, the next closest salary comparison to Aspen is Snowmass Village where the mayor makes $1,700 a month and council $1,200. Those salaries also include a $500 monthly stipend to be used for health insurance. The Snowmass Town Council voted \u201cyes\u201d on a pay raise in May 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Aspen\u2019s mayor currently makes $2,325 a month and council $1,700.<\/p>\n

csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The idea of giving Aspen\u2019s elected officials a pay increase was shot down Monday when a majority of City Council members voted to kick the can to their successors to decide if future political leaders should earn a living wage. Council members and the mayor have not seen a pay raise for 18 years, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2443285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 04:03:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}