The City of San Luis Obispo could potentially increase the salary for its council members and mayor soon.
The Council Compensation Committee recently proposed the council members salaries to be raised by 63 percent and the mayor's salary by 46 percent.
That means the council would go from making a monthly compensation of $1,224 to $1,990. The mayor's salary would increase from $1,725 to $2,508.
San Luis Obispo's Mayor, Heidi Harmon, says the public sometimes is not aware of just how many hours the council has to work.
"Just today I've had several interviews, I've been at the Cal Poly Campus, I'm going to a ribbon cutting and I have more meetings. I try to do a lot with young people in our community and show up at events. Those types of things and that's all really time consuming," said Harmon.
Harmon also says the low pay could impact who decides to serve on the council.
"The most important thing is who gets to even consider running for office and because these roles are compensated at such low rates, a lot of people can't afford to even run for office," added Harmon.
Nancy Bodily, a resident of San Luis Obispo, believes a pay increase is fair due to the time and research the members have to keep up with.
"They have a lot on their plate. They have to know everything about everything and I want them to be informed, so I think they should get paid a fair amount for what they do," said Bodily.
If approved, the new wages would take effect January 2021.
