After approving raises for just about every major labor group over the past year, the Palo Alto City Council is now shifting its focus to employees who some members believe are overdue for a salary bump: themselves.

The council plans to discuss on Dec. 4 a memo from Council member Ed Lauing and Vice Mayor Greer Stone that would increase the monthly salary for council members from $1,000 to at least $1,600, with possible future adjustments based on inflation. If approved, this would translate to an annual salary of $19,200 or higher.

If the council supports the proposal, this would be the second time in the past decade that members have opted to raise their own salaries. In 2015, the City Council voted 6-3 to raise its monthly salary from $600 to $1,000, an increase that went into effect in 2017.

Then, as now, council members offered two reasons to justify the raise: the difficult and time-consuming nature of their work and the need to bring more diversity in political representation. The memo argues that because of the low salaries, most council members tend to be people who are retired or have high incomes. Many have been empty-nesters, the memo states.

By contrast, the city has seen relatively few lower-income workers choosing to run for office, which Greer and Lauing posit could be a result of time constraints or less flexible work hours. Raising salaries may help, they suggest.

"Palo Alto is committed to diversity in all areas of city life from our residents to our city staff to our commissioners and our council members," the memo states. "We welcome residents of all ethnicities and income levels. We also want our city council to represent the varied demographics we now have and the many new residents who will come to Palo Alto based on our initiatives to create hundreds of new affordable homes for lower income residents."

Palo Alto isn't the only city thinking about higher raises for elected officials. Last year, the League of California Cities, which is composed of elected officials from throughout the state, enthusiastically endorsed Senate Bill 329, legislation from Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, that authorized higher pay for council members. The bill, which became law this year, bases pay levels on city size, with pay ranging from $900 per month (in cities with 35,000 or fewer residents) to $3,200 (for those with more than 250,000 residents). Council members in cities like Palo Alto, which have between 50,000 and 75,000 residents, would have an upper limit of $1,600.

The League of California Cities called the Dodd bill "overdue reform," noting that this was the first adjustment that the legislature has made to council compensation levels since 1984.

"Lengthy time commitments and limited pay discourage many, especially low-income residents, single parents, people of color, and young people, from running for public office. For many, being a council member is a full-time commitment with part-time pay," the group said in a statement endorsing the bill.

Dodd had also argued that the legislation would "make it easier for members of marginalized communities to serve."

"No one runs for City Council in order to make money," he said, according to the bill analysis Legislative Analyst's Office. "But the low levels of pay make it much harder for them to balance their careers and personal obligations with the calling to serve their community."

Because Palo Alto is a charter city and, as such, has more autonomy than "general law" cities when it comes to municipal affairs, it could technically go well beyond the salary levels specified in SB 329. The memo from Lauing and Stone suggests that members explore doing just that. They note that Palo Alto is "among the most affluent and high cost areas in California'' and that unlike many other cities, it runs its own utilities, a regional water treatment plant and an airport.

Given these additional responsibilities, a $1,600 salary "may not be enough to influence a decision to run for council given the time investment and the high expectations of our constituents across this broad scope of responsibilities," the memo states.

Lauing and Stone estimate that council members spend between 20 and 30-plus hours per week on their municipal duties. This includes preparation for and participation in council and committee meetings, liaison assignments to local commissions and outside agencies, meetings with staff and constituents and public appearances.

"The duties of a Palo Alto city council member require a broad skill set and an extraordinary commitment of time and effort. Many hours are required to perform the job while representing Palo Alto residents," the memo states.

If the full council supports the proposal, the higher salaries would take effect on Jan. 1, 2025, after the next local election. A memo from the office of City Attorney Molly Stump states that the council could approve the higher salaries by passing an ordinance that raises the salary from $1,000 to $1,600 plus inflation, consistent with state law.

Because Palo Alto is a charter city, the council also has the option of then placing a charter amendment on the 2024 ballot to eliminate existing language that binds council salaries to the amounts provided in state law. If voters approve this amendment, the council would then revise the municipal code again to reflect the language in the newly amended charter, according to the memo.

The proposal comes during a year in which most of the city's roughly 1,000 employees have seen salary hikes. Recent negotiations between city management and labor unions had resulted in salary increases of at least 8% for every employee group, as well as additional hikes for positions that were deemed to be below market standard. Members of the city's largest firefighters union, the International Association of Fire Fighters, in January received immediate 12% raises under their new contract, which also granted them 4% pay bumps in July of 2023 and July 2024.

The city's largest police union, Palo Alto Peace Officers' Association, also won salary hikes last April, when the council approved an immediate 5% raise for all members as well as 4% raises in July 2023 and in 2024. Stump and City Manager Ed Shikada may also be up for raises soon, with the City Council holding a closed session on Nov. 27 to discuss their performance and compensation levels.

The memo from Lauing and Stone notes that a mid-level senior staff in the city makes about $162,229 per year, while a state Assembly member gets a salary of $122,694 per year. It acknowledges that unlike those positions, a council member's job is not full-time. It is, however, time intensive, they argue.

"Anecdotally, some residents have argued over the years that it should be a full-time job and that Councilmembers should be fairly compensated for the broad skills required in that full-time job," the memo states. "That option may have merit but is not under consideration as part of this colleagues' memo. The issue, however, is to assess what fair compensation should be for the responsibilities of the role, the workload required, and to attract a broader spectrum of candidates."