CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The Chesapeake City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to deny pay increases for council members and the mayor — the first raise considered for city leaders in about two decades.
Currently, council members make about $25,000 a year, while the mayor earns just over $27,000. The proposed ordinance would have more than doubled that, raising the mayor’s salary up to $51,000 and council members to $47,000.
"I support you going ahead with your compensation for council," an unidentified Chesapeake resident said.
Not everyone agreed with the timing or the size of the increase.
"What you tell me by this ordinance is I want to hurt successful people," another unidentified Chesapeake resident said.
City council member Les Smith Jr., who brought forward the proposal, acknowledged the challenge in asking for a raise — especially one this significant.
"There’s no perfect time to ask for a raise especially the large increase we proposed," Smith said.
Other members of the council emphasized that public service, not pay, is what drives their work.
"Serving the people of Chesapeake is an honor we don’t run for this position for monetary gain we run to serve, we run to listen and represent the community," City Council member Amanda L. Newins said.
In the end, Smith led the charge to withdraw his own proposal, and everyone on the council agreed.
Even though this request has been withdrawn, it can come back at any time. Multiple council members said maybe later in the future this could be brought back up, but just not right now.
Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that the proposal was withdrawn from the agenda. Council voted unanimously to deny the proposed raises. WTKR regrets the error.
