PORTAGE (WKZO-AM/FM) — Portage City Council members will be getting sizable bump in their compensation next year.
It amounts to a 20 percent raise for council members, but former Mayor Betty Ongley, who now chairs the Officers Compensation Committee, which made the recommendation, thinks councilors deserve it, considering they haven’t gotten a pay hike in a decade. In that time, the city has grown and the workload increased.
Nobody is getting rich serving on the board. Council members will make $6,000 annually with the $1,000 raise. The mayor will take home $8,500.
Council Member Claudette Reid also pointed out that the council had approved monthly stipends for the Council to cover the cost of laptops with internet connections.
It made it possible for the city to halt having to manufacture printed copies of their agenda packets and has resulted in a net savings.
