Manor city council to decide on pay structure for mayor, council members

MANOR, Texas (KXAN) -- Manor city council will vote Wednesday on a proposed pay structure that will decide how much each member is compensated each month they serve in office.

The current proposal received no input from the community and would create a tiered pay structure that would give more money to members who take on more responsibilities.

A tiered pay structure

The pay structure would be in four tiers. As members take on more responsibilities and duties within the city, they will be compensated more per month. The mayor would make at least $875 per month with a maximum limit of $3,500. Council members would make at least $625 per month with a maximum limit of $2,500.

Tier one is the basic amount of involvement for council members, including attending the two monthly city council meetings and other public meetings at city hall. Members would need to chair different committees and attend more community meetings and events to qualify for higher pay scales.

You can look at the requirements for each tier at the document below.

Scott Moore, the city manager for Manor, said council members would need to submit either monthly or quarterly reports to show all of their committee assignments and involvement in the community.

"We feel this compensation structure will allow the current and future governing body members to determine how involved they want to be serving on the City Council and allow them to pick and choose their level of involvement representing the city during their term in office," Moore said in an email to KXAN.

How did we get here?

The city's charter used to say that neither the mayor or any council member could receive compensation for their service, but last year that sentence was deleted from the charter.

The deletion of that section in the charter was approved by Manor voters during the November election in 2022. This allowed the council to set their own pay structure.

During a Sept. 20 city council meeting, council members were allowed to ask any questions they had about setting compensation.

Sonia Wallace, who represents Place 4 in Manor, made the argument during the meeting that as the city grows, so does the council's responsibilities.

"Duties of council have been extended, as of that time frame that that was submitted. More is required of council at this time," Wallace said during the meeting.

Mayor Pro Tem Emily Hill shared the same reasoning as Wallace to provide compensation for council. She said duties will keep growing for members and they will have to take more time off of work without pay.

"We'll be put in extensive situations where we would have to keep making these sacrifices as well," Hill said.

At the end of the discussion, the council voted 6-1 to move forward with creating an ordinance that would officially create a pay structure. Mayor Christopher Harvey was the lone no vote on council.

Lack of participation from community

Council attempted to create an ad hoc committee of community members to get public input on the question of compensation. Each member was required to submit two names to serve on the council, but Moore said only one person had agreed to join the committee by the deadline.

An ad hoc committee was never formed and never met. The council decided to move ahead without any public input.