Houston mayor’s pay could more than double under proposal
The change would mark the first pay raise for Houston’s mayor since 2009.
What you need to know:
- The Houston City Council will vote next month on a proposal to raise the mayor’s pay from $1,500 per month to up to $3,200. If approved, the change would take effect in November.
- The proposal also updates city code to more clearly define the mayor’s duties and personnel responsibilities.
- A separate measure would add a $200 monthly stipend for the deputy mayor position beginning in November. A vote on that proposal is also scheduled for next month.
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HOUSTON – A Houston City Council measure that would more than double the mayor’s salary and increase the role’s paid work hours is scheduled for a vote next month.
If approved, the proposal would take effect in November, after the annual City Council vote selecting a mayor for the coming year. It would boost the mayor’s pay from $1,500 for at least 100 hours a month, to $25 an hour for up to 160 hours a month, or as much as $3,200.
Houston Mayor Carter Cole proposed the change. It would be the first pay raise for Houston’s mayor since 2009, when the rate increased to $1,500 from $400.
Houston’s mayor is elected annually by the City Council from among its members, a format used by cities categorized as “second-class” under the state constitution.
Cole took over the role in March after then-Mayor Jason Kahn abruptly resigned. Kahn, who remains on the council, said he stepped down because he could not devote enough time to the role while also running his own businesses.
Cole served as mayor for four consecutive terms starting in 2022, leaving the seat in October when the council selected Kahn instead during a chaotic meeting in which Alaska State Troopers were called to restore order.
Current Houston rules require the mayor to work at least 100 hours per month to receive pay or obtain special permission from the council to work fewer hours while still receiving compensation. The proposal would replace that minimum-hour requirement with a cap on paid hours.
A version of the pay raise proposal considered by the council this month would have changed that requirement to “at least 160 hours” instead of “up to” that allotment.
But the council voted unanimously during a regular meeting Thursday to broaden the rule to allow individuals to serve as mayor even if they cannot make the role their full-time job. Because that change was a substantive update to the proposal, a city attorney told the council they should postpone the vote until next month to give more members of the public time to comment.
The proposal also carries a significant update to the mayor’s duties as described in city code.
For example, the proposal deletes a measure requiring the mayor to “appoint, suspend, or remove city employees and administrative officials as provided in the city’s code” and replaces it with a requirement that the mayor serve as “personnel officer” unless an employee is hired for that role. It also states the mayor will “recruit, hire, appoint, discipline, suspend, or remove department heads and staff” and “oversee workforce development, performance, and compliance with labor rules” as a part of that job.
The measure says those personnel tasks are “often with council approval for key positions,” but it does not specify when council approval is required or what those key positions are.
Cole said all the tasks and roles detailed in the proposal are already regularly performed by the mayor. But because they are not listed in law or policy, there is no clear information on the expectations for the job or how time-consuming it can be, he said.
Kahn’s resignation inspired the proposed updates, Cole said. If the law had been clearer about the full role of the mayor, Kahn might have better understood the time commitment, he said.
“I wanted to clarify every one of those things,” he said. “The next time we have this change like that, I want them to be successful. I don’t want them to sit there and wonder what the job is.”
Kahn did not respond to a request for comment.
A separate measure also scheduled for a vote next month would add a new $200 monthly payment for the council member who serves as deputy mayor. The deputy mayor does not receive additional pay under current city code.
The city’s deputy mayor fulfills the mayor’s role when the mayor is unavailable, according to city code. The job often carries additional time commitments assisting with city tasks as requested by the mayor, Cole said at the meeting.
Regular City Council members are paid $50 for each regular meeting and $25 for special meetings, city code states. They are paid $75 if they officially represent the city at an outside meeting, it states.
The next Houston City Council meeting is scheduled for June 11 at 6 p.m. at Houston City Hall.
-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com