The College Park City Council will hold a public hearing on Oct. 7 on a proposal to double the part-time salaries of councilmembers from $10,000 to $20,000 a year.

The proposal, which was unanimously endorsed by councilmembers at two meetings in September, also would boost the part-time mayor’s salary from $15,000 to $25,000 and the mayor pro tem’s from $12,500 to $22,500.

“Everyone on this dais works incredibly hard for the residents that we care for,” Councilmember Jacob Hernandez (District 1) said during a lengthy discussion at the council’s Sept. 9 meeting. “I don’t think any of us do it for the compensation. … The responsibility can be awesome, but taxing.”

The proposed salary increase, he said, “might not be extraordinarily significant, but it does help cover the costs.”

The bump in pay, which would cost the city $90,000 a year, would take effect in January.

The officials’ last salary increase was in 2023, when councilmembers were making $7,000 a year and voted to increase their pay to $10,000 a year. At that time, the mayor pro tem’s compensation increased from $7,000 to $12,500, and the mayor’s, from $10,500 to $15,000.

Before that, the last pay raises for the mayor and council were in 2014.

“We do it for the love and passion of being part of the community,” Mayor Pro Tem Denise Mitchell (District 4) said during the Sept. 9 council meeting, noting the council has raised its compensation only twice during the eight terms she has served on the council since 2009. “That needs to be taken into consideration.”

Members also considered a staff recommendation that the city’s elected officials be offered retirement and health benefits, and free executive training and conferences in addition to the city-issued mobile phones and laptops that they already receive. The council decided to delay that decision.

The city’s Compensation Review Committee, whose members are residents, compared the compensation and benefits of city officials with those of more than a dozen Maryland municipalities, ranging from large cities like Frederick, which pays its full-time mayor $134,800 a year and its councilmembers $43,735, to small towns like Berwyn Heights, whose part-time mayor and councilmembers earn $3,000.

The committee’s conclusion: “Our mayor and council needed an increase” based on that comparison, Teresa Way-Pezzuti, the city’s director of human resources.

Hernandez suggested that a higher salary might entice more community members to run for seats on the city council

Councilmember Ray Ranker (District 3) agreed.

“Clearly, if the pay was $1 million, more people would probably run for office than if the pay were $0 per year,” he said.

Councilmember John Rigg (District 3), suggested that the council could amend city law to tie regular pay raises to cost-of-living increases every two years.

“If we do this,” Mitchell suggested, “we don’t have to come back every two years or every three years to discuss this.”

Hernandez noted that any discussion among members about giving themselves pay raises is awkward.

“Obviously, this is a very uncomfortable conversation for us all to have … because we’re talking about literally our own pay raises,” he said.