Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Six Digit Salary
It's good to know that the local Philly City Council know how to take care of business:
- City Council members will soon join the ranks of those in Philadelphia's public-sector elite who earn a six-figure salary.
Come June, Council members will receive a cost-of-living increase of 4.38 percent, the second time in as many years that they will get a bump in pay. That adjustment will raise the annual pay for most members from $98,000 to $102,292.40, making them among the most handsomely compensated council members in the country.
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Leaders of the 17-member Council will make out even better. President Anna C. Verna, who makes $123,000, will take in $128,387.40; Majority Leader Jannie Blackwell, who is paid $105,000, will make $109,599; Minority Leader Brian J. O'Neill and Majority Whip Marian Tasco, who both take in $103,000, will make $107,511.40; and Minority Whip Frank Rizzo, who makes $100,000, will be paid $104,380.
- The pay raises come in addition to a number of perks, such as city cars and city-issued cell phones, that Council members receive when they take office.
And the increases come less than two years after Council approved giving itself a 15 percent salary hike. In late 2003, the body raised its base pay from $85,339 to $98,000, despite public outcry and withering criticism from Mayor Street. When Street vetoed the legislation, Council overrode him.
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Unless they decide to forgo the increase, Council members will join 131 city employees - out of a total of 22,600 - who make six-figure salaries, according to figures provided by the City Controller's Office. Those figures reflect city salaries as of December.
That group includes Street; chief information officer Dianah Neff, who makes $190,000; city Medical Examiner Haresh Mirchandani, who earns $182,591; and Secretary of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation Kevin Hanna, who is paid $175,000.
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