Jacksonville City Councilman Rory Diamond plans to introduce a bill that would remove council members’ salary increases from the annual budget bill.
“I was really disturbed to learn last year that in the middle of the pandemic and economic crisis that we got an automatic pay increase as members of the City Council. I was completely disgusted by that,” said Diamond, whose district includes the Beaches.
The bill, which is to be called the “No Obligatory Pay Enlargement”, or “NOPE” bill, would require the council to file a separate, standalone bill to increase their own pay.
The 2020 budget included a raise of $2,302.56 for all council members, bringing the majority of members to a salary of $52,276.56.
Diamond said he donated his raise to Beaches Area Ministries (BEAM) for COVID-related rent and mortgage relief.
The Jacksonville City Council spends more than $1 million on council salaries each year plus another $595,000 on member benefits.
Contact Sydney Boles at sboles@wjct.org or on Twitter at @sydneyboles.
