Lavonia City Council Pay Raise Becomes Law

It is now official.

Beginning next year, the Lavonia City Council and the Mayor will have a little more in their paychecks.   At their regular meeting this week, the council heard the second reading of an ordinance that would double their pay.

Last month, the council voted to increase a councilman’s pay at the suggestion of councilman Harold Harbin.

Harbin said after looking at how other similar size municipalities in Georgia pay their elected officials, he decided it was time for another pay raise for Lavonia’s city council and mayor.

Harbin noted the council had not had a raise since 2002 when the pay for each member was raised to $200 a month and the mayor’s salary was raised to $500 a month.

“Here we are ten years later and I believe we should at least consider it,” Harbin said. “I’d like to make a motion that we increase the council’s pay to $400 per month and the mayor’s pay would increase to $1,000 per month.”

In his motion, Harbin also asked that the pay for called meetings would remain at $200 per month per council member and that the policy of no pay for work sessions would also remain the same.

Harbin’s motion was seconded by councilman Eddie Floyd, but councilman David Howell said he is against the idea.

“I just feel this is not the time to be discussing raises with the economy the way it is,” he said.

But the vote could not become law, according to City attorney John Dickerson, until the ordinance was advertised for three weeks in the local paper.

That was done and on Monday, the city council voted again, 3-0 to increase their pay.  The increase goes into effect in January 2014, after the city elections in November.