By Wafir Salih | wsalih@alextimes.com and Denise Dunbar | ddunbar@alextimes.com

The Alexandria City Council voted unanimously to increase the salaries for the next Council during a public hearing on June 15. Both Alexandria’s next mayor as well as the six members of City Council will each receive raises of $30,500.

Starting Jan. 1, 2025, when Alexandria’s new mayor and Council take office, the mayor’s annual salary will increase from $41,500 to $72,000, while the salaries of councilors will rise from $37,500 to $68,000. That’s an increase of 74% over the current mayoral salary and a raise of 81% for Council members.

The city manager’s office projected this adjustment to increase the city’s budget by $213,500 per year.

Mayor Justin Wilson emphasized the rarity and inherent awkwardness of Council voting to give itself a pay raise.

“The Council has increased its pay once in the past 20 years. It’s never a comfortable thing, nor politically advantageous thing to do,” Wilson said in a text to the Times.

Officials in Alexandria earn significantly less compared to most of their Northern Virginia peers. In Arlington, the county board chair receives $94,734 annually, with board members earning $89,851. Loudoun County’s chair makes $86,064, with the vice chair and district supervisors earning $77,853. In Prince William County, the board chair earns $84,739, with board members earning $74,282. In Fairfax, the board chair earns $138,283, with other board members earning $123,283.

The cities of Falls Church and Fairfax are the only neighboring jurisdictions where city officials earn less than those in Alexandria. The mayor of Falls Church earns $9,800, and councilors earn $9,200. Fairfax’s mayor earns $13,000, with councilors at $12,000.

In all of these localities, the Councils and Boards serve as legislatures and pass ordinances that are implemented by a city or county manager, who reports directly to the Council or Board. These positions are ostensibly part-time, but the reality is generally different. Most of Alexandria’s last several mayors have put in full-time hours in the post, even if, like Wilson, they also hold an outside full-time job, and councilors also spend countless hours attending city and regional meetings.

For years, various residents have called for a pay increase for Alexandria’s City Council and mayor, as has the Alexandria Times in editorials.

The last City Council pay increase was voted on and adopted in June 2018. At that time, the mayor’s salary increased from $30,500 to $41,500, and the salaries of councilors from $27,500 to $37,500.

During the June 11 City Council legislative meeting, Councilor Canek Aguirre made the motion to raise the salary cap from the current level of $41,500 to $72,000 per year for the mayor, and from the prior $37,500 per year to $68,000 for councilors. The motion was seconded by Councilor John Taylor Chapman.

Earlier this year, the Virginia state legislature approved an increase to salary caps for local government officials. The salary cap for mayors in cities with 75,000 to 174,999 residents – such as Alexandria, which has a population of around 155,000 – was increased from $25,000 to $47,000, and councilors from $23,000 to $43,000. The salary cap for mayor and councilors scales up depending on population size.

Since Alexandria’s new salaries exceed these caps, it would have been in violation of state code – but state law allows an exception to cities whose charters do not impose a limit on salaries, and Alexandria has no such limitation in its charter. Cities with no limitations imposed on salaries may continue to set their pay rates for councilors and mayors according to their own charters.

State law also mandates that any salary increase for Council members must be approved at least four months before the next municipal general election. Alexandria’s general election will be held in November, five months from now.

While all four incumbent members of City Council who ran for reelection were winners in the Tuesday Democratic Primary – meaning they will be on the Democratic slate in the November general election – they still must prevail in that contest to benefit from the salary increase.

“The Council cannot raise its own salary, so this will impact the new Council,” Wilson said in a text to the Times.

There was controversy over the timing of Council’s vote to increase its own salary. A Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Alexandria Times corroborated Vice Mayor Amy Jackson’s assertion that consideration of the pay raise was originally docketed for June 25 – a week after the Democratic Primary. The FOIA affirmed Jackson’s contention that she learned in a June 5 meeting with City Manager Jim Parajon that the raise was originally docketed for June 25 and was only moved up prior to the election at Jackson’s insistence.

The Times contacted Parajon and Councilor Alyia Gaskins on June 5. Both indicated that the pay raise was scheduled on the docket for June 11 for a legislative meeting and June 15 for a public hearing, before the primary, and Gaskins denied that the change was made at Jackson’s urging.

“… the decision to put it on an earlier docket is something that has been discussed for days and has been settled previously,” Gaskins said in an interview with the Times on the afternoon of June 5.

However, texts from a FOIA request by the Times show a conversation between Parajon and Wilson about the pay raise still being on the docket for June 25 as of June 5, which was the last day the issue could be moved up to before the Democratic Primary.

“Mayor, I hate to disturb you but I had my one on one with vice mayor and let her know the 25th meeting had the council salary memo on it and she vehemently argued that it has to be the 11th meeting before the primary. Since today I need to finalize the agenda I need some direction from the council. I think Amy said she was going to email the rest of council about the 11th. Sorry,” Parajon said in his text to Wilson, which said Wednesday [June 5 was a Wednesday] at the top.

Wilson responded saying he had already heard from Jackson.

“She just texted me. I’m fine with the 11th if a majority is comfortable …” Wilson said in his texted response to Parajon.

Parajon said he had polled Council and June 11 was the consensus. The city manager said Councilor John Taylor Chapman was the only councilor who preferred leaving discussion of the pay raise on the post-primary June 25 docket.

Jackson apparently texted Gaskins – who won the Democratic Primary contest for mayor over Jackson and former developer Steven Peterson on Tuesday – immediately following her meeting with Parajon the morning of June 5. In the 10:20 a.m. text, Jackson urged Gaskins to support moving consideration of the pay raise up to June 11, before the primary.

“June 11 is the last day we should be increasing council salary for Jan. 2025. It needs to go on the docket today. This is shady if it’s after the primary. Are you willing to vote on the mayor and council salary increase on June 11?” Jackson texted Gaskins.

Gaskins responded in the affirmative.

“Yes. I agree,” Gaskins texted Jackson back.

Additionally, a June 5 email from Parajon’s Chief of Staff Sermaine McLean to City Attorney Cheran Ivery, on which Parajon is copied at 3:39 p.m., shows staff conversation about moving consideration of the pay raise from June 25 to June 11. The email, titled “RE: 6/25 Draft Docket Items” lays out the changed schedule for considering a Council and mayoral pay raise.

“Hi Cheran, We are working on changing the dates. This is now being moved to the June 11 docket and will need to be on June 15 Public Hearing as it relates to the Council Salary Memo. Will you be able to review the ordinance today. …”

The city is not alone in adjusting pay rates this year. Last week, Hampton City Council approved a significant pay raise, following Portsmouth City Council, which recently doubled its salaries, and Richmond City Council which also implemented salary increases.