COMPENSATION OF LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS
Service on an American city council is a position with little or only modest compensation. Only 2 percent of council members from small cities and 7 percent of those from medium-sized cities (population 70,000 - 199,999) reported receiving $20,000 or more in salary in 2001. Among council members from large cities (population 200,000 and larger), who are more likely to be working full time for the council, three-quarters (73%) received $20,000 or more. Within this latter group, there was wide variation in compensation levels based on the form of government in the city. Among those in large cities with a council-manager form of government, the average salary was $23,335. In large mayor-council cities, however, the average was $39,061. Two-thirds of council members across cities of all sizes (66%) said they would prefer a higher salary.
Many state municipal leagues collect data on salary and benefits for various municipal positions including elected officials. Leagues vary on the type of information that they have available. Some provide information directly on their websites at no cost while others have restrictions allowing access only to their members. Some also conduct annual and bi-annual salary surveys and publish their findings. To see if salary information is available in your state, go to State Municipal League Salary Information.
The International City/County Management Association provides salary information on 23 positions common to municipal county government. They also compile individual data specifically for police and fire personnel salaries. ICMA does not collect data for local elected officials. For titles of ICMA salary publications, visit their website at www.icma.org.
WORKLOAD OF LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS
The job of council member is time-consuming. The average number of hours spent per week on council-related matters among council members in small, medium-sized, and large cities is 20, 25 and 42, respectively. While the data shows only minor changes in the hours spent on council-related work between 1989 and 2001, the time spent "doing services for people" -- providing information, handling complaints, and contacting agencies on behalf of constituents -- rose in the years between the two surveys. These activities accounted for 35 percent of the average council member's time in 2001.
Sources:
Svara, James H. Two Decades of Continuity and Change in American City Councils. Commissioned by the National League of Cities, September, 2003.
Woodwell, William H., Christiana Brennan, and Christopher Hoene. Serving on City Councils: America's City Councils in Profile (Part II). Washington, DC: National League of Cities, 2003.