-->
Search the ArchivesNavigationContact InformationThe Citizen Newspapers For Advertising Information Email us your news! For technical difficulties |
Doubling council’s salaries pulled off agendaTue, 10/17/2006 - 3:37pm
By: John Munford
A plan to discuss an increase in salaries paid to the Peachtree City mayor and City Council has been postponed. The issue was originally scheduled to be discussed at Thursday night’s meeting but it was removed from the agenda Tuesday afternoon. Mayor Harold Logsdon had planned to recommend that his and council members’ salaries for the part-time jobs roughly be doubled. The increases would not take effect until January 2008 at the earliest. Before the item was pulled from the agenda, Logsdon said in an interview he hoped to bring Peachtree City’s mayor and council salaries in line with at least the state average for cities of similar size. Peachtree City pays an annual salary of $9,000 to the mayor and $6,000 for each council member; that figure has gone unchanged since 1985, Logsdon noted. For cities with more than 25,000 people having a part-time mayor, the average salary for mayor is $19,203, and the average salary for a council member is $12,363, according to a study by the Georgia Municipal Association. “Maybe we’ll go one notch above the average,” Logsdon said. If the council decides to pursue a salary increase, it must be advertised for three weeks to notify the public and then brought up for a final vote on the matter, Logsdon said. Also, the new salaries wouldn’t take affect until the next election cycle beginning January 2008, Logsdon added. Also off the table: Council was to have been presented with information about various benefits other cities provide their council members including health and life insurance, but Logsdon said he wasn’t very interested in offering such a benefits package to the Peachtree City Council. Still on the agenda: Council is slated to consider approving a resolution calling for the permanent closure of the Philips Services Corporation (PSC) plant in south Fulton County bordering Fayette County. The plant was shut down temporarily following news that the chemical propyl mercaptan was released at the plant; the chemical is being blamed for a number of illnesses among nearby residents. But the Georgia Environmental Protection Division allowed the plant to reopen days later after the company agreed to a record $100,000 fine as part of a consent order. Since then it has been revealed that the company failed to comply with state environmental regulations requiring a notification to EPD of what chemicals have been treated at the plant. If Peachtree City approves of the resolution, it will join several other nearby jurisdictions expressing their distaste with the way the situation has been handled. login to post comments |