Tempe Town Lake

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman makes $550,090 a year

For a part time jobs being mayor or city councilman pays very well. Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman gets $54,409 and $500 a month for a car for just a few hours work a month. The Tempe councilmen get almost $30,000 a year plus another $500 a month for a car. And they all get a free cell phone. Those salaries are damn good for a part time job that meets once a week and often less.

Mayor Hugh Hallman works a half day a week and gets paid $54,409 a year, plus $500 a month for a car or $12,000 a year for a car. If he was working a 40 hour week at that salary he would being paid $550,090 a year.

The Tempe Councilmembers all work a half a day a week and are paid $27,747 a year, along with $12,000 a year for a car. If the Tempe Councilmembers were working a 40 hour a week job the pay would be $277,470.

Source

Time for council to turn budget knife on itself, some say

by Dianna M. Náñez - Jul. 18, 2009 08:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

Now that Tempe city council members have balanced a $34.5 million shortfall, city officials say the next budget will require more sacrifices from the council itself.

Mayor Hugh Hallman and Councilwoman Onnie Sherkerjian took 2 percent pay cuts last fiscal year, which they carried over to this year. In addition, they were joined by the rest of the council in refusing a 3.5 percent salary increase that had been scheduled to take effect July 1.

Mayor and council salaries and perks have been questioned by some Valley municipal leaders in the face of a weak economy that has resulted in cuts to neighborhood services and worker layoffs. In Tempe, the city avoided layoffs, but workers took benefit cuts and saw their salaries frozen.

Hallman proposed examining Council expenses several months ago, but most of the suggestions did not gain traction.

Now some council members are now agreeing that given the sacrifices workers have made it is time for the council to take a bigger hit.

This week, Councilman Joel Navarro suggested that all council expenses should be reviewed when Tempe begins budget talks for next fiscal year.

"I think it's important for me because I know everyone has had to strap their belts in not taking a pay increase. When the fire, police and everybody is not getting increases, I think it would show we're doing our part too," Navarro said.

In Mesa, municipal leaders took the same 2 percent pay cuts that workers were asked to take.

While cuts are important, Navarro also said that it is important to review the value of some expenses. Cutting food expenses could provide a good savings, he said. But cutting travel budgets to leverage Tempe's economic potential could hurt the city in the long run.

"I'll give you a good example. I think (Mayor) Phil Gordon has been back and forth to (Washington) D.C. to promote Phoenix . . . but he's getting money brought back to his city," Navarro said.

Councilman Mark Mitchell's recent trip to a National League of Cities event helped Tempe fast-track efforts to garner stimulus funds, he added.

As a result, Tempe was one of the first Valley cities to build a Web site to ensure transparency with their stimulus projects and to create a stimulus task force of staff with expertise writing federal grants, he said.

Tempe's mayor and council make heftier annual salaries compared to their counterparts in Scottsdale, Gilbert Chandler and Mesa, but they don't get other perks that some municipal leaders take.

Chandler's mayor is provided a vehicle, while Hallman refuses the monthly $500 auto allowance he is eligible for.

Hallman's salary is $54,409 compared to the mayors of Chandler and Scottsdale, who make $36,000.

Despite refusing the 3.5 percent raise, the budget for Tempe mayor and council expenses and salaries still grew from $386,796 last fiscal year to $400,337 this fiscal year. The increase was largely attributable to an increase in healthcare costs.