Girard Mayor's $6k raise to be used for city projects
After 23 years in office, Mayor James Melfi says he is fortunate and grateful to serve the city of Girard. And in May, he hopes to be voted in for a 24th term after announcing his re-election bid last month.
At Monday night's City Council meeting, council members voted unanimously to overturn the Mayor's veto regarding the $6,000 raise. "If the raise is given to the position, I will pay that raise back," Melfi said in the meeting prior to the unanimous vote.
The mayor currently receives a salary of $52,997, and the city council wants to increase it by 9.4%, to $58,997. "I thought that if I was so concerned about raises that I should lead the way and not accept a raise if I'm reelected," Melfi added.
Melfi has said since October he will use the extra 9.4% for city projects and not put the raise in his own pockets.
"I could put it towards recreation or something," Melfi said. "I'll give some consideration to that. I think what's most important is that it's paid back."
During the October 24 meeting, the council voted and raised the salaries of city officials to $1 above the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, or OPERS, a pension plan for public employees, so that one year of service will equal years of service credit toward their pension, Girard City Council President Renny Paolone said.
"We had to raise the salaries to meet OPERS minimum requirement," Paolone added. "We were in fiscal emergency for a long time and most positions in the city didn't receive raises for years."
However, Paolone said that the raises are to keep the city's salaries comparable to nearby communities, such as Hubbard and Struthers. However, Hubbard's mayor has received an annual salary of $45,000 since 2020, and Struther's mayor's annual salary is $47,862.04.
Paolone said that the raise is not for Mayor Melfi, but for the position, to keep it a job that people want to apply for.
"We're giving the position a raise and the individual in that position can choose not to take the salary," said Sam Zirafi, Councilman at Large.
When Melfi took the position 23 years ago, he was paid about $43,000 per year. His most recent raise was offered to him 4 years ago.
Positions including Law Director, City Auditor, and all of council will also receive pay raises as part of the OPERS pension plan.
