The Flint city council failed Thursday night to vote down pay raises for themselves and the mayor.
The pay raises were proposed by an independent commission. In order to stop the pay hike, a majority of the Flint city council had to vote to reject it.
Councilman Santino Guerra made a motion to stop the pay hikes during last night’s meeting. He says now is not the time for Flint’s elected leaders to get a pay hike.
“We still have the Flint water crisis going on... there are still homes with pipes in the ground that need to be replaced,” said Guerra.
But a dispute over whether Flint’s mayor should get a raise delayed the vote, until the meeting was adjourned.
As a result, starting Friday, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver’s pay will increase from $91,801 to $125,000.
As the council members squabbled, Mayor Karen Weaver left the meeting, declining to say whether she supports the pay raise.
“That was up to the compensation board. I’m going to leave that there,” Weaver said. “But it doesn’t matter what the topic is, the (city council) bickering goes on anyway.”
Council members' salaries may also rise a few thousand dollars, unless they soon decide to stop the pay hike.
