INVESTIGATION: Hidden Perks and Pay for RI City & Town Council Members

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Thursday, August 07, 2014

Stephen Beale, GoLocalProv News Contributor

Annual salaries, pensions, and even life insurance and expense accounts are among the benefits of sitting on a city or town council in Rhode Island, new data shows.

Every city and town, except for one, pays its council members. Salaries ranged from $500 in Barrington to $18,765 in Providence in the last fiscal year. The exception is Foster, which eliminated $1,825 salaries for council members, starting in the new fiscal year that began July 1.

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Most council presidents earn more than the rank-and-file. In Providence, $20,850 goes to Michael Solomon, now a candidate for Mayor, while the council president in New Shoreham earns double the $5,000 that each member receives. In Little Compton, the president makes $6,372, triple the amount for individual members, according to a new report from the state Division of Municipal Finance.

On average, the typical municipal council member in Rhode Island earns $3,819 a year.

In addition to salaries, just over half of communities offer council members at least one benefit. Most common are pensions, followed by health insurance.

A state taxpayers advocate said the group didn’t object to salaries and stipends for members, but said offering benefits too is going too far. “A stipend to council members is probably reasonable, on a sliding scale by size as larger municipalities involve more responsibilities and commitment of time. We cross the line, however, with health care and retirement,” said Monique Chartier, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Taxpayers group.

Overall, the most generous community is Warwick, which offers its council members five types of benefits—more than any other city or town. (Council President Donna Travis did not respond to messages seeking comment.) Providence and Pawtucket are tied for the second highest number of available benefits, with four in each city.

“Service on a council is a part-time obligation. Part-time jobs in the private sector almost never offer these benefits. How convenient, then, that elected officials in certain cities voted to give their office—often, voted to give themselves—benefits which many taxpayers themselves do not have and cannot afford but are compelled to fund for their elected officials. Convenient, indeed, for the elected official but abusive of the power of their office. At that point, it becomes, deplorably, more about using an office to benefit from a questionable entitlement and far less about public service,” Chartier added.

Council members defend pay and perks

But several current council members disagreed, saying their work on the council is easily full time based on hours worked.

“It’s a lot of work we put in,” said Providence city Councilman Kevin Jackson. “We’re on the job 40 hours a week without a doubt, if not more than that.” When asked if it is appropriate for council members to receive salaries and benefits, Jackson responded: “In my humble opinion, yes.”

As a councilman, Jackson earns $18,765 annually. “If you break it down, hourly rate, it’s going to come down below minimum wage,” he said. (If the workload was an even 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, the hourly rate actually comes out to $9.02, which is just over one dollar above the current minimum wage but just two cents above the minimum wage of $9 that takes effect next January.)

In Pawtucket, city Councilman Mark Wildenhain said he earns every penny of the $7,372 he is paid—but he’s not in it for the money. “I don’t know who lives on $7,000 a year. I make quite a lot more than that in my regular job as a glass maker,” Wildenhain said. “That $7,000 doesn’t matter to me as much.”

He says he uses the money to hold events for constituents, such as a candidates forum featuring Providence Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Angel Taveras tonight.

Wildenhain declines health insurance from the city since he receives it through his job as a tank operator at Osram Sylvania in Central Falls. But he said he understands why some council members may need those benefits. “I don’t weigh in on what other people’s situation is in their life,” he said.

Wildenhain noted that the pay and benefits are set by the city charter. He said he is more focused on addressing constituent concerns that exploring any major overhaul of the charter. “I’m not looking to buck the system,” Wildenhain said. “I just go along with what [is] in place.”

But Chartier said council members like Wildenhain don’t get a free pass just because they may not have voted on their benefits. “Even if it is by charter, they are happy to be silent and go along with it rather than use their power to get rid of it,” she said.

Benefits include life insurance and expense accounts

All told, 13 communities offer pension benefits. Most are with the state-managed Municipal Employees Retirement System. Two are local: Warwick and Providence. In Newport, additional retirement benefits are available through TIAA CREF.

Six communities offer health insurance benefits, including Providence, Pawtucket, and East Greenwich. In some communities, vision and dental benefits are offered separately. Four communities offer group life insurance: Providence, Scituate, Warwick, and Woonsocket.

Some council members waive those benefits. In East Greenwich, no one on the five-member council participates in the health insurance benefit, which is the Blue Cross Blue Solutions High Deductible Health Plan. In Newport, where members have their pick of three health insurance plans, five of seven members choose one. Five council members also receive dental insurance through the city.

Instead of insurance, several communities provide expense accounts or reimbursements for official expenses to council members.

Burrillville reimburses members for “expenses incurred in the transaction of official town business.” Portsmouth allots $100 to each member for travel expenses. Another $7,500 is available in a “council contingency fund.” In West Warwick, the town council has a $5,000 budget for “items such as iPads, coffee and refreshments …office supplies, flag, flag pole, etc.” the report states.

How does Rhode Island compare?

Jackson noted that council members in comparable New England cities are paid the equivalent of full-time salaries and have full-time staff assigned to them—something for which he is not advocating, he added.

But in some of those cities the pay is actually less, GoLocalProv found.

In New Haven, aldermen were earning $2,000 a year as of 2013, according to the New Haven Independent. At the time, the city was considering a pay hike of $1,000 but ultimately dropped the proposal. Their peers in the slightly-smaller capital of Hartford were receiving $15,000 annually, according to the Hartford Courant. In Massachusetts, Worcester city councilors were making the same amount up until the mid-2000s, when members voted to double their pay to $29,000, according to local news reports.

Dan Beardsley, the executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, said the general public seems satisfied with the amount of work their council members do and how much they are paid for it.

Beardsley said he is not aware of any effort to boost or dock council pay. “I don’t have complaints from any council members, nor do I have any complaints from any advocacy groups,” he said.

Stephen Beale can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @bealenews

Community Council Members Benefits Rankings

Barrington

Rank: 39

Number of Members: 5

Rank: 4

Number of Members: 7

Salary for Members: $2,000
Salary for President: $4,000

Benefits
Pension: Municipal Employees Retirement System and TIAA CREF

Health Insurance: Choice of three: Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthMate VAR, Blue Chip, Classic Blue (all members have one of plans, three are on family plans)

Dental: Choice of three: Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthMate VAR, Blue Chip, Classic Blue (all members have one of plans, three are on family plans)

Vision: No

Pawtucket

Rank: 3

Number of Members: 9

Salary for Members: $4,500
Salary for President: $4,500

Benefits
Pension: Municipal Employees Retirement System

Health Insurance: Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthMate Coast to Coast (three members have the family plan, two members have the individual plan, and four members take no plan)

Dental: Delta Dental

Vision: Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthMate Coast to Coast

Providence

Rank: 2

Number of Members: 15

Salary for Members: $18,765
Salary for President: $20,850

Benefits
Pension: City of Providence Employees Retirement System

Health Insurance: Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthMate Coast to Coast (nine members have the family plan, and six members have the individual plan)

Dental: Delta Dental

Vision: No

Life Insurance: $15,000

Warwick

Rank: 1

Number of Members: 9

Salary for Members: $10,000
Salary for President: $10,500

Benefits
Pension: Warwick Retirement System

Health Insurance: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island, choice of HealthMate Coast to Coast, Blue Chip under 65, or Classic (five members take coverage and all have HealthMate Coast to Coast on the family plan)

Dental: Blue Cross Dental

Vision: Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthMate Coast to Coast

Life Insurance: $32,000