COVINGTON, Ga. — Seventeen items were on the agenda for the City of Covington’s city council to discuss and vote on at their June 5 meeting.
Item No. 16, however, discussed the mayor and city council salaries.
Susie Keck, who represents Post 1 East on the council, proposed that all six council members and the mayor receive a raise.
Keck’s proposition was specific, too, presenting that council members’ salaries be increased from $9,000 to $12,000 per year and the mayor’s salary go from $18,000 to $24,000 a year.
Post 1 West representative Kenneth Morgan made the motion with Post 3 West council member Anthony Henderson providing the second.
At the end of all discussion, the motion passed 4-2 with Post 3 East representative Don Floyd and Post 2 East representative Fleeta Baggett being the dissenting votes.
In addition to Keck, Morgan, Henderson and Post 2 West council member Charika Davis voting in favor of the change.
When Keck introduced the proposal, she stated that it had been since 2016 when the last raise was made.
Before the votes were cast, however, an approximate 10-minute discussion took place.
When mayor Steve Horton opened the floor for questions or comments, Floyd was the first to speak.
“We just had a series of budget workshops where we instructed the city manager to go back to his department heads and cut their budgets by 10 percent and also the training 25 percent,” Floyd said. “I just think it’s bad timing to propose a raise for the mayor and council at this time. I just think it’ll put a sour taste in people’s mouth. It puts a sour taste in my mouth.”
Baggett, who recently declared her candidacy for Covington mayor’s seat, aired her disagreement, too.
“I’m going to have to agree with Mr. Floyd on this,” Baggett said. “I looked at these numbers also considering the benefits package we all have…Being an elected official is a choice. It’s a public servant job. It is not a side hustle. It’s not supposed to be something you go out and make a lot of money at. Even though that’s not a whole lot of money, it’s a lot of money to some people. When we’re telling department heads that they can’t have the people that they need to work with the growth that this city’s having, I cannot support this. It leaves a really bad taste in my mouth as well.”
Morgan — who made his intention to run for city mayor nearly a year ago — was the next to speak concerning this particular topic. He started by thanking Keck for raising the issue up and then explained his support.
“At the end of the day, I don’t think nobody in this city would have a problem with elected officials getting this amount of money,” Morgan said. “While it is a community service, we knew when we came in we weren’t going to get rich. At the end of the day, it’s about accountability and respect and making sure that we are doing due diligence for everybody.”
Horton then gave “his two cents worth” on the matter.
“I only vote if there’s a tie, but I wouldn’t vote for it, either,” Horton said. “And I’m just going to leave it at that.”
The vote didn’t come to a tie in the end and was passed.
However, in Keck’s original motion, the raise would take effect at the end of the fiscal year.
Covington city attorney Frank Turner Jr., was on-hand and provided clarification on when exactly this change can be implemented.
“Under state law, any change in your salary would not be effective until the new council is sworn in in January,” Turner said. “You can’t do it between qualifying. An ad has to run for three consecutive weeks before the week of your second reading. We’d have to run an ad in the paper explaining to the public what you’re asking to do.”
To view the entire meeting, go to https://vimeo.com/833499751.
