Evening sun sets over Dallas City Hall Friday, January 24, 2014. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)
Update at 11:45 p.m.: With 99 percent of precincts reporting, the proposition to raise Dallas council pay is in the clear by a 51-49 margin.
Update at 11:15 p.m: Dallas City Council members appear poised to receive a substantial pay raise.
It’s not over. But with 95 percent of precincts reporting, the margin is still 51-49 in support of the council raise.
Update at 9:40 p.m.: With 20 percent of precincts reporting, the margin remains 51-49 in favor of the council raise. So still too close to call.
But Mayor Mike Rawlings did weigh in on the early returns:
“If this narrow count holds for the rest of the night, the citizens of Dallas are sending a clear signal … to the City Council that we respect the work you are doing and that we think you are worth us investing in,” he said.
“But that we expect you to live up to doing what’s right by the citizens and that you need to improve the path you are on,” he continued.
Original post: It’s too close to tell if Dallas voters will approve a 60 percent pay raise for City Council members and a 33 percent boost for the mayor.
The proposition to increase council members’ annual pay to $60,000 from $37,500 and the mayor’s salary to $80,000 from $60,000 has a narrow lead after early voting. The raises would go into effect after the next municipal election in May.
Supporters stressed the notion that serving on the City Council in a city of 1.2 million people is a full-time job — and that the salary needs to match. They pushed the increase as a way to attract a more diverse and more qualified pool of candidates.
“We need to get great City Council people,” Mayor Mike Rawlings said leading up to the election. “And the only way we are going to do that is get a living wage.”
The proposal to increase Dallas council members’ pay grew out of a once-a-decade review of the city charter. The City Council approved in total nine proposed charter amendments – covering bond elections to redistricting – to put before voters.
Save for a complicated proposal related to the city’s thoroughfare plan, the slate of propositions was winning the early vote on Tuesday.
But the council pay proposition was considered the most contentious, as proponents had to overcome the public’s knee-jerk opposition to paying politicians more.
Voters have rejected nine of the last 10 attempts to increase council pay in Dallas – the lone exception coming in 2001. And though there was no organized opposition this year, some remain adamant that it’s a part-time job that should be more about public service.
A political action committee supportive of this year’s measure conducted polling that found a slightly negative attitude toward such a raise. But that changed when survey respondents were given reasons why the increase was necessary, a group spokesman said.
On Election Day, Belinda Sweeny proved that as she walked out of the Oak Cliff Sub-Courthouse.
Sweeny, a paralegal who works downtown, initially said she was “totally against it.”
“Considering the quality of work they are putting out these days, I think – I won’t even begin to say what I really think,” said Sweeny, who planned to vote later in the day in her precinct.
But asked about supporters’ argument that higher salaries would produce a more qualified pool of candidates, Sweeny paused.
“That does make sense,” she said. “Let me reverse that thought.”