The Peachtree City Council will look into raising its salaries in what Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett hopes will attract a more diverse field of candidates to run for office.

Currently the mayor is paid $9,000 a year and council members are paid $6,000 a year. Council will consider raising it up to $18,000 for mayor and up to $12,000 for council, with that being a “maximum amount,” according to Plunkett’s motion, which was approved 4-1 with Councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford voting against.

Citizens will have two chances to speak out on the concept before it could possibly be voted on. Council will take comments during a public hearing at its Aug. 2 meeting and also at its Aug. 16 meeting, after which a vote could take place.

Plunkett noted that in a grouping of Georgia cities roughly its size, Peachtree City’s pay is the lowest for both mayor and council positions, “and that may be a good thing.”

Peachtree City is also the largest of 12 cities in its population classification, dubbed “Class B” by the Georgia Municipal Association, Plunkett noted.

Councilman Stuart Kourajian said he’d consider the proposal, but only if the city rolled it in over five years, and have it not go into effect until 2010.

Rutherford said it would be nice if the city could allow council members to contribute part of their salary to an individual retirement account that city employees currently use which has positive tax implications even though the city doesn’t match any of the contributions.

“We’re not eligible for any of that. We don’t even get passes to the swim center,” Rutherford said. “Employees get passes to the pool. We don’t get passes to the pool.”

Rutherford said she didn’t want people to run just for the pay, and Plunkett agreed.

“I don’t want a retirement plan, but it would be nice to take my money and save it in a 457 plan,” Rutherford said.

Plunkett noted that the City Council and mayor salaries have not been increased since 1985.

“I think the council should be a broad base of people that are involved in it, and that if you have a situation where the pay is such that it costs you as an individual to come to all the meetings, then you limit the number of people that can apply for the job,” Plunkett said.

Plunkett said she is proposing the increases be spread out over two or three budget years instead of adopted all at once, “so that it wouldn’t be a hit in any one budget cycle. ... I would also consider it not going into effect until 2010.”

Mayor Harold Logsdon said he would like to create a scenario so the city doesn’t fall so far behind again with pay for council members. But City Attorney Ted Meeker said he’d have to investigate whether the city has the power legislatively to adopt an automatic pay raise strategy.

Resident Linda Wojcik said she didn’t have a problem with council getting a pay raise, as she could see how it would get expensive for someone to pay a babysitter so they could attend council meetings. But Wojcik noted that the city doesn’t typically want to keep its salaries up with cost of living rates.

She urged the city to look at making their increases go to the average of what other similar cities are paying. Plunkett said the proposed increase would do just that.

Wojcik also said that holding the raises from taking into effect until 2010 would send a positive message to citizens.

“Plus, it would give you time to start getting this stuff into the budget,” Wojcik said.

Resident Robert Brown said he’d like to see the matter on a referendum in November’s election, but Plunkett said a law prevents such straw polls from being on the ballot because they are non-binding.

Meeker said the legislature requires the council to vote on its own pay raises.

Meeker noted that once qualifying for council positions begins, the matter can’t be voted on until the new council members come on board.