Wichita mayor, City Council salaries climb as they approve their own raises

Wichita’s City Council members and mayor awarded themselves another raise Tuesday. But you wouldn’t know it from the city’s agenda packet, a presentation by city staff or public discussion at the council meeting.

Even the mayor said he wasn’t sure his raise was up for a vote Tuesday until The Eagle asked him about it.

“Frankly, I don’t think any of us knew,” Mayor Brandon Whipple said. “No one was talking about giving ourselves raises at City Hall. Staff didn’t mention it, and it wasn’t at the front of our minds. We were solely focused on the raises we passed for city employees. None of us is in it for the money.”

Confusion over the raise comes as a result of state and city law changes enacted in 2015 that have allowed the City Council to approve its own raises included in its general salary ordinance each year.

Now, the mayor and City Council member automatically receive the same salary increase as exempt city employees, plus a merit increase. Unlike positions in other city departments, the mayor and city council positions don’t have an entry-level base pay.

Before those changes, a salary increase for city politicians would have required a supermajority vote by the council or a vote by the public.

Whipple said he would like to see that information included in future agenda packets and staff presentations, so the public and elected officials know exactly what’s being voted on.

With the vote, Whipple’s annual salary will increase from $106,591 to $113,626, according to data provided by a city official several hours after the ordinance was approved. The six council members’ salaries will bump up from $46,026 to $49,064. They will receive a 4% cost-of-living raise given to all salaried, non-union city employees plus a 2.5% merit increase. It takes effect Christmas Day.

Since the laws changed in 2015, council members’ annual salaries have jumped from $36,999 to $49,064, a 32.6% increase. The mayor’s salary has increased from $87,712 to $113,626, or 22.8%.

There is no cap on how much elected officials will make in the future. Without an ordinance change, City Council and mayor salaries will likely continue to climb.

“I think there should be a cap of some sort or a way to involve the public more and disentangle our salaries from the rest of the city staff,” Whipple said. “I have suggested tying those — especially the merit increases — to a survey of citizens of the quality of services they’re receiving from the city. But that hasn’t gotten much traction yet.”

Previous attempts to change council and mayor salaries were highly controversial, but provided the public an opportunity to weigh in on the job performance and expectations of their elected city officials and for elected officials to defend their decision. It also allowed the public to comment on how much public money should go toward those officials’ salaries.

“We need to find a balance,” Whipple said. “We don’t want pay so low that only the independently wealthy or the unemployable can run for office. But we also don’t want to make it so that the motivating factor for running for office is a paycheck. I don’t think anybody wants that.”

This story was originally published December 21, 2021 at 5:11 PM.