Park City’s elected officials in July may not start receiving paychecks as large as they themselves had determined just weeks ago. Mayor Ryan Dickey and the Park City Council on Thursday signaled they want to talk more about the large compensation increases they approved in May. The increases are set to take effect in July. The elected officials want to discuss the issue again as soon as a meeting on Thursday. The mayor is slated to earn $116,666 annually, up from $55,209, under the approved increase. Each of the five members of the City Council would earn $58,333 each year, up from $28,520. They are also eligible for health benefits through the municipal government valued at $29,731 annually, or they have the option of receiving cash instead. The mayor receives a $3,000 car allowance each year. There has been backlash centered on the size of the raises, which would more than double the salaries. It is unusual for the elected officials to revisit an issue so quickly after voting on it. The vote in May was 4-1, with City Councilor Bill Ciraco dissenting. The supporters saw the increased compensation as something that could remove barriers to elected office for those who otherwise could not afford to serve. They spoke, as an example, about the time commitment of an elected official. There has been a round of criticism since then as Parkites learned of the size of the increases. On Thursday, the mayor and City Council touched on issues broached during the recent compensation discussion. Dickey said he supported the effort to “promote inclusivity of who can run and, sort of, you know, trying to keep up with wages to sort of pay fairly for the work.” “I think our deliberation, it felt … a little fast and the size of that raise just a little big. Which demonstrates the danger of what happened, right, as a council didn’t keep pace with pay. We didn’t keep pace with the staff pay. And, so, you’re forced to make these big jumps that land pretty hard with the community,” Dickey said. The mayor outlined the possibility of using growth in overall municipal compensation since 2015, when the last significant City Council salary adjustment was made, as a benchmark. That idea, he said, “tracks council and mayor compensation to the growth in the overall pay plan.” “Really trying to hear the community and serve council’s objectives, too … which I think are exactly the right ones,” he said. He inquired about the City Council’s interest in “having us bring back an option that dials those increases back somewhat in a way that, you know, maybe we can bring the community along a little better with our objectives.” Some of the comments from the city councilors included: Molly Miller says her “highest priority is making sure that whatever we land on enables a wider range of Park City residents to be able to run for and participate (in) serving on city council. That’s a huge priority for me.” Ed Parigian said he did not receive timely information and described that “this process was just botched completely.” City Councilor Tana Toly delivered extensive comments that included: “A lot of this conversation to me comes to what do we actually value. Do we value our local leadership? Do we value the work that we’re putting in? And do we value who can serve here?” “I’ve heard the public. I’ve heard the anger. I’ve heard the frustration. I’ve heard comments made that I think are completely out of line toward the council who is just trying to actually look at who’s not able to serve and see if there’s a part of our population who this may help to run.” “I’ve also talked to workforce who said, ‘Wow, I’ve never thought of running for council now, and I could. And that’s amazing and that’s never been an opportunity for me because I’ve never been able to see myself up there making a sacrifice between service and money.’” The post Park City officials plan to revisit large mayoral, city council raises after encountering backlash appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less