Despite deficit fears, Sebastopol City Council considers tripling council stipends

PART 3—Recap of the May 19 Sebastopol City Council meeting: In which the City Council considers raising their monthly stipend from $300 to $950 a month

OK, let’s set the scene: After running in the red for several years, the Sebastopol City Council finally managed to produce a balanced budget last year. The city is deep into the budget-planning process for the next fiscal year, but already it’s not looking good.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, Councilmember Stephen Zollman said the council was facing a $1.6 million shortfall for the next year, and Barlow owner Barney Aldridge said that he was having trouble raising money to build his planned hotel—one of two proposed hotels the City hoped would buoy its bottom line. (The other one, Hotel Sebastopol, is also on hold.) Although Zollman backtracked on that $1.6 million number, saying city staff was still working on it, that number left a chill in the room.

This was perhaps not the best time to suggest tripling the compensation for city councilmembers by raising their monthly stipend from $300 to $950.

This proposed raise was made possible by SB 329, a bill passed in 2024, that raised the cap on compensation to $950 per month for councilmembers in a city with a population of under 35,000.

Mayor Jill McLewis explained the details:

• Compensation for council members may only be changed by an ordinance. If the council wanted this increase, they would have to direct city staff to return at a future council meeting with a proposed ordinance.

• Compensation may be increased annually by either 5% a year or the percentage change in the consumer price index, whichever is greater. (CPI increases are capped at 10%.) (City Attorney Alex Mog noted that this inflation-based increase is not automatic; every increase requires an ordinance.)

• The increase won’t take effect until a new term in office begins for at least one council seat. (In the case of Sebastopol, that would be this coming November.)

SB 329 also requires that the ordinance explain why the increase is needed.

Councilmember Zollman, who brought the proposal forward, said it was a matter of equity.

“If we’re ever going to get any type of diverse voices, anyone lower than the age of 50 on this dais, anyone who’s a different color other than white, we really do need to figure out how to compensate or try to compensate people, especially from marginalized voices, so that they can even feel like trying to do any of this is even possible.”

Mayor Jill McLewis echoed this sentiment: “If we’re ever going to get any kind of diversity on this council, $300 just doesn’t cut it for many people. I’ve talked to people who are college students, who have said they considered [running], but why would they do this for $10 a day, and the amount of effort that we have to put in? Frankly, $950 doesn’t even go that far, but I feel that at least it’s a step toward making progress with this.”

McLewis also noted that the council stipend hadn’t changed in nearly 40 years. (Actually, it’s been 42 years. The council stipend was set at $300 in 1984.)

Almost everyone on the council acknowledged that this request for a raise was “awkward.”

“It’s super awkward to give yourself a raise, especially when the optics aren’t so good during years where the budget feels like it’s struggling,” Councilmember Phill Carter said, “but that’s exactly why we need people that can come in with a lot of skills and a lot of time to really put really strong effort into this position. We need to make sure that it’s respected.”

Vice Mayor Sandra Maurer, who announced for transparency's sake that she was planning on running for council again in November, said, “I think it’s just awkward to vote for something that could benefit ourselves, but I think it’s really important to address it because I do think it is an equity issue. I also think it’s a matter of respect. What councilmembers did in 1984 and what we do now as councilmembers is vastly different. We serve on a lot more committees, and we have a lot more email and information that we’re dealing with. They didn’t have that in 1984. I did a little Google search to see what $300 in 1984 would be today, and it’s $960. In 1984, you could rent a one-bedroom apartment for $300; you just can’t do that today. So, for me, it’s a matter of respect.”

What do other cities’ stipends look like? The staff report included this list of comparisons:

Since the agenda item to increase council compensation fell at the end of the meeting, few residents were still in attendance. Those who spoke during public comment, however, weren’t convinced.

Noting the aforementioned $1.6 million deficit, Lee Mathias said, “I don’t know where you’re going to take this money from if you give yourself a raise, but something obviously has to be cut.”

Both Mathias and commenter Mary Cone connected this stipend increase to last year’s increase in water and sewer rates—since Water and Sewer pay a percentage fee for city services, including city council. Next year, the cost to Water and Sewer for city council services is estimated at over $170,000.

“I feel like this is a large increase, and the water rate payers are already paying a large percentage of the city council’s pay,” Cone said. “I’m wondering how much more we will be paying for that. If you’re going to take it out of other money, that’s fine with me—I think you deserve a raise—but the rate payers are sick of this.”

Because councilmembers have the option of joining the City’s health plan, commenter Kyle Falbo suggested that actual city council compensation is much higher than just $300 a month. He called for transparency about the true cost—benefits and all—of what the city pays councilmembers. (The Sebastopol Times has a request in to the City about this very question.) Falbo also suggested that councilmembers get dinged financially for every council or committee meeting they miss.

And indeed, the cost of providing benefits to a councilmember makes a significant difference. According to Transparent California, most Sebastopol City Councilmembers were paid between $3,600 and $3,900. If a councilmember opted for health insurance through the City, that jumped up to $15,350 (for Neysa Hinton) in 2024. According to the city, both Hinton and Sandra Maurer are insured through the city.

If the council approves an ordinance knocking their cash stipend up to $950, a councilmember who also opted into the city’s insurance program could cost the city almost $25,000 a year.

In the end, the council voted 4 to 0 to ask city staff to draft an ordinance setting the council stipend at $950 a month. That ordinance will be brought back for a vote at a future city council meeting.

---