Future De Soto City Council members will have more pocket change to carry around – but that’s all it will be after a vote to increase council members’ pay.
The council voted 3-1 Oct. 21 to raise members’ compensation from $600 a year ($50 per month) to $800 annually ($66 per month), with the increase taking effect for each newly elected or reelected member.
It’s the first time the City Council compensation has been increased since November 2009, when annual pay rose from $450 to $600 a year.
Assuming a council member devotes 10 hours per month to his or her duties, the higher pay amounts to $6.60 per hour, well below Missouri’s current minimum wage of $8.60 per hour (scheduled to rise to $9.45 in 2020).
Even with the increase, De Soto’s five councilmen rank among the lowest-paid city officials in Jefferson County.
Arnold City Council members receive by far the most, at $16,562 per year, followed by Festus ($3,600), Pevely ($1,800), Crystal City ($1,200), Herculaneum ($1,200) and Hillsboro ($900). Kimmswick’s and Byrnes Mill’s alderpersons receive no compensation.
The first De Soto council members in line for the increase are Mayor Rick Lane and Clay Henry, both up for reelection in April 2020. Members Jim Akers’ and Roger Charleville’s terms expire in April 2021 and Larry Sanders, who was elected by a margin of six votes this past April, would be up for reelection in April 2022.
As it turned out, Sanders was absent from the Oct. 21 meeting, and Charle-ville cast the only dissenting vote.
Both men said after the Nov. 18 council meeting that they plan to retire from the council in the future.
Charleville, who said he plans to serve out his term and then retire, said he didn’t think this was the right time to increase council members’ pay.
“The other councilmen thought that it probably was (the right time),” Charleville said. “We’ve been talking about it for a long time. I only have about a year and a half left, and so I thought I was going to leave it up to another councilman, or another council, in case they wanted a higher amount, or they didn’t want to do it.
“That was my own thinking on it. I wasn’t really against it; it passed anyway. But I wanted to really leave it up to the next council after me, to make the decision that they feel they needed more money.”
Sanders, who has served the city in some capacity for 30 years, said if he had been present for the vote, he would have voted no, “because I don’t think I need more money for doing what I’m doing.”
But he added that he anticipates retiring from the council sometime next year after the home he is having built in Florida is completed.
“I’m going to be leaving here in about seven to eight months, probably June or July (of 2020), unless the house gets done earlier than that,” Sanders said. “(The home is) being built right now. It takes a long time down there; they don’t get in any hurry.”
The former mayor said he’s getting ready to ride off into the sunset.
“I need it; my wife needs it,” he said. “We need some fresh air.”