A Tuesday study session included a review of compensation for Broomfield City Council members.
Council is required — under the municipal code — to review members’ compensation at least once this year.
The code also requires an automatic increase in compensation July 1, 2023.
“It’s an amount equal to the average percentage increase in wage provided to city employees in the previous year,” said Nancy Rodgers, city and county attorney.
That compensation is based on a merit system:
- Any member elected or chosen prior to Nov. 2, 2021, receives $800 per month, and they will receive an additional $100 per month if they are serving as mayor pro tem;
- Any member elected on Nov. 2, 2021, or chosen/elected after that date, receives $1,200 per month, and they will receive an additional $300 per month if they are serving as mayor pro tem;
- A mayor who is elected prior to Nov. 2, 2021, receives $1,100 per month; if they are elected on or after that date, they receive $1,750 per month.
The merit system compensation, which was passed by an ordinance in October 2021, will not be revisited this year, Mayor Guyleen Castriotta clarified during the study session.
“We’ve built in a review process, which makes it a lot better,” Castriotta said. “So we don’t have to bring it up every year when we’re doing reviews in increases for staff. So I do appreciate that future-proofing of the system.”
Many other local cities and governments also use the automatic compensation increases, Rodgers said.
“The automatic increase is already in the code, and it’s already budgeted for, so there’s nothing that needs to come back to Council,” she explained.
Councilmember Laurie Anderson noted during the study session a discrepancy in the municipal code, which states that any compensation increases take effect at the beginning of a member’s new term of office, and do not take effect during a member’s term. That rule directly conflicts with the automatic compensation increase on July 1, 2023, Anderson said.
Rodgers said she will look into the discrepancy and report back to City Council in the new year with a clarification.
