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During the LaGrange City Council work session on Tuesday, the council discussed potentially increasing the retirement plan for the council and the mayor’s salary.

City Manager Patrick Bowie said that city staff recently conducted a compensation study for the city council comparing LaGrange to what similar cities offer.

“From a salary basis, we’re in pretty good shape. We’re competitive with what the other cities are providing,” Bowie said. [But] from what we saw, it would be appropriate to increase the retirement from $40 to $75 per month.”

Bowie said it would have a very minimal impact on the budget. The city would go to its retirement provider for a plan amendment. It would be a small, incremental amount that would cover that future retirement, Bowie said.

Assistant City Manager Bill Bulloch said they looked at six similar cities that offered an average of $86 per month, so they decided to recommend upping the retirement from $45 to $75.

Only Councilman Leon Childs voiced opposition to the potential retirement increase. 

“I don’t approve of any kind of increase if it’s going to be off the back of the people,” Childs said.

Councilman Mark Mitchell also suggested increasing the salary of the mayor.

“I just want to be fair to our mayor because I know, I see it, and I know y’all see it that his job requires a whole lot more time than our job,” Mitchell said. “His phone probably doesn’t ever stop ringing.”

Mayor Jim Arrington resisted the notion that he needed a raise and left the room for much of the discussion.

“I just want to say that I’m fine with where I’m at. I do it because I love my city,” Arrington said. 

Councilman Nathan Gaskin said city leader compensation is important because it tries to stem less scrupulous things.

“You can say that I don’t want it to affect the people or anything like that. But meanwhile, you’re out here trying to hustle and do back home deals or things that may be seen as illegal,” Gaskin said.

Councilman Quay Boddie pushed back, saying that he doesn’t need additional compensation.

“When I first ran for office, I didn’t even know we got paid. I really didn’t. I just thought I was doing my civic duty,” Boddie said.

The LaGrange mayor currently makes $20,000 in salary. Michell suggested increasing it by $5,000, $7,500 or $10,000.

Councilmembers Tom Gore and Darby Pippin suggested they would potentially support a $5,000 increase.

Childs again pushed back on the potential compensation increase.

“I’m not saying you don’t deserve it,” Childs said. “But for me, I’m here as a servant. I don’t want an increase on my retirement or nothing.”