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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

CALERA – The Calera City Council approved a pay increase for the next mayor and City Council during a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Feb. 3 at city hall.

Due to the salary of the next Calera mayor and City Council needing to be set by Feb. 26, the council went ahead with unanimous consent to vote on the topic during the meeting on Feb. 3.

The Calera City Council were presented with four potential salary options for the next mayor, council president and council members which will go into effect on Nov. 1, 2025. The options to consider were all based on research by Assistant City Clerk Stacy Walkup into the salary of mayors and councils in local municipalities of similar size.

“Stacy sought out the pay from adjacent cities and cities our size,” Mayor Jon Graham said. “So, that’s where these numbers were formulated, and I feel like she’s done good on providing (us) with numbers.”

The following options were considered based upon a draft of the resolution:

Option No. 1

• Mayor – $41,000 per year
• Council president – $14,000 per year
• Council – $12,000 per year

Option No. 2

• Mayor – $42,500 per year
• Council president – $14,500 per year
• Council – $12,500 per year

Option No. 3

• Mayor – $43,800 per year
• Council president – $15,000 per year
• Council – $13,000 per year

Option No. 4

• Mayor – $45,200 per year
• Council president – $15,500 per year
• Council – $13,500 per year

During the council meeting, Council members Kenneth Cost and Debbie Byers expressed their support for option No. 1.

“I, personally, am not in it for any money and what we do get, I try to find ways to give it back to the community,” Byers said. “So, I feel like option No. 1 is a better one for us.”

Council members Ernest Montgomery and Calvin Morgan vocalized their support for option No. 3 with Montgomery highlighting the length of time that has passed since changes were made to the mayor and council salary.

“Mayor, I would like to consider option No. 3 and the reason being is just looking at this city’s past history of increases,” Montgomery said. “There (has) not been one… since maybe 2007 or 2008.”

According to Graham and City Clerk Connie Payton, the mayor and City Council have not seen changes to their salary since 2008 with the exception of one cost-of-living adjustment.

In defense of his reasoning for supporting option No. 3, Morgan highlighted that the pay under consideration is for the next council following the next city election.

“It’s not for us, it’s for the next sitting council, whomever that may be,” Morgan said. “It’s not that we’re making a decision on this based on this council sitting here now.”

Byers shared that she agreed with Morgan’s sentiment but said she would hope the next council would be in office to serve the community and not to expect a significant amount of money.

Council member Alan Watts suggested a compromise in the form of option No. 2 which hadn’t been discussed yet and made a motion for its consideration.

The resolution was then subsequently approved after a vote which saw the approval of every member of the council except for Byers. The changes to pay for the mayor, council and council president will go into effect Nov. 1, 2025 following the next city election.