Gibsonville aldermen voted Monday night to give themselves a $700 annual raise, as recommended by mayor Lenny Williams.
Aldermen had been paid $2,700 annually, with the mayor pro tem (Mark Shepherd) earning $3,000, and the mayor (Lenny Williams) getting $3,400.
Williams, who asked that the item be put on the agenda for this week’s meeting, said the board’s pay had not been raised in at least 14 years.
Williams recommended the $700 figure, based on what he said were his calculations of adding the equivalent of 2 percent annually over the past 14 years; Williams and town manager Ben Baxley said they did not know how much longer it had been since board members had received a raise.
The new amounts will have four aldermen making $3,400, Shepherd (as pro tem) earning $3,700, and Williams earning $4,100.
Williams had provided aldermen with statistics from the N.C. League of Municipalities, which assembles average salaries of municipalities across the state.
For towns with populations between 5,000 to 9,999, Gibsonville board salaries are in the lowest 15 percent among the 42 towns and cities within Gibsonville’s size; the 2020 Census put Gibsonville’s population at 8,920. Its 2010 population had been 6,410.
Salaries for board members ranged from a low of $150 per year in Sawmills (in Caldwell County) to a high of $11,347 in Marion in McDowell County.
Aldermen voted 5-0 in favor of the increase.
Read the newspaper’s editorial view on the aldermen’s decision: Gibsonville board’s self-serving pay raise provides vivid illustration of why public has become so cynical about politicians http://Gibsonville board’s self-serving pay raise provides vivid illustration of why public has become so cynical about politicians
OTHER GIBSONVILLE NEWS:
Aldermen move forward with two property purchases for future library near community center: https://alamancenews.com/gibsonville-aldermen-move-forward-with-two-property-purchases/
Aldermen approve two new subdivisions on Guilford side of town: https://alamancenews.com/gibsonville-aldermen-ok-two-rezoning-requests-for-new-subdivisions/
