DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Decatur city officials are taking steps to raise their salaries by 150 percent.
They say it’s been more than two decades since they were set, and the jobs are all part-time.
"So it's $400 a month and $500 a month,” Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett said.
That's how much Decatur City commissioners and the mayor make, each month, respectively.
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On Monday, they passed a tentative ordinance to bump their wages.
"It speaks to the responsibilities of our jobs,” Garrett told Channel 2’s Rikki Klaus.
Garrett's salary is second-to-last, compared with other DeKalb County mayors, according to a list compiled by the Decatur city manager.
Only the mayor of Pine Lake, with a population of less than 800, makes less.
"Significantly less than sort of our peer cities in DeKalb County,” said Garrett.
She makes $6,000 a year, in a city of nearly 22,000.
City commissioners pull in $4,800 a year, the seventh-lowest wages out of 11 DeKalb County cities.
Garrett says the pay was set more than 20 years ago. She says the job has become much more demanding since then.
"How all of our lives have changed in 24 years, with respect to being accessible by email as well as phone and social media,” the mayor said.
The proposed raises would boost the mayor's earnings to $15,000 a year and commissioners to $12,000.
We asked residents their thoughts and heard from both sides.
"I don't think that that's fair at all," said Decatur resident Towana Anthony. "They're making a lot of income as it is."
Lisa Bobb, who owns the Downtown Decatur business Squash Blossom, has a different perspective.
"I don't even think that raising it 150% is enough, given the amount that the commissioners do for the city and that the mayor does for the city,” Bobb said.
The final vote is in August. If passed, the raise would go into effect next year.