Columbia City Council approves raising own salaries by more than 50%
Columbia City Council members voted Tuesday to give themselves a raise.
Council voted 5-2 in favor of an ordinance that will raise council members’ salaries to $20,350 per year from $13,350, a more than 50% increase. Council members Will Brennan and Peter Brown voted against the raises.
Outgoing Councilman Howard Duvall introduced the move, and said the raise has been 17 years in the making — Columbia council members have been making $13,350 per year since at least 2006, according to the South Carolina Municipal Association.
“It won’t affect me because I’ll be gone,” Duvall said with a laugh.
Duvall, who is not running to keep his seat, will leave the council at the end of this year when his term expires. But he said he wanted to get a raise passed to ensure that running for City Council isn’t a financial sacrifice for anyone and so that candidates can come from a diverse range of economic backgrounds.
Duvall lobbied his fellow council members to support raising the council salaries before the last City Council election, he said, but couldn’t get enough support. This time, Duvall had enough support.
He added he thought other council members would be more willing to support the raise in light of Richland County Council voting in November to raise their own salaries to $17,777, up from $14,500.
The proposal would not change the mayor’s salary, which would remain at $75,000 per year. The raise would take effect Jan. 1, 2024.
Currently, Columbia council members make less than elected officials in other large South Carolina municipalities.
Rock Hill council members make $17,844 per year. Greenville council members make $15,000 per year, raised in 2017 from $11,772, according to Municipal Association data.
If Columbia’s council passes the new salary, Columbia would have among the highest-paid city council members in the state, according to that data.
Of the municipalities larger than 20,000 people that responded to the Municipal Association’s 2022 and 2023 compensation surveys, just North Charleston reported council salaries above $20,000, at $20,657. The city of Charleston did not respond to the municipal association survey in 2023 but recently approved a raise for council members as well, bringing Charleston council salaries up to $20,131, according to city ordinance.
Columbia City Council voted yes on the first of two required votes on the salary ordinance during a regular council meeting Tuesday.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with the result of the Tuesday night council vote
This story was originally published September 18, 2023 at 2:26 PM.
