Painesville City Council is considering a pay increase for council members, though if passed the raise would not take effect during current council terms. Under the proposal, the council president’s salary would increase from about $8,000 per year to about $11,800 per year at the start of the president’s next term. Pay for the other six council members would increase from about $7,000 per year to about $10,000 per year at the start of their next terms. The next terms for council’s three at-large seats are set to begin in January 2026, following the November 2025 elections. The next terms for council’s four ward seats are set to begin in January 2028, following the November 2027 elections. State law prohibits raising or lowering an elected official’s salary in the middle of a term. Council President Jim Fodor said that Painesville City Council members have lower salaries than council members in Eastlake, Mentor, Willoughby, Wickliffe and Willowick. He listed the annual salaries of those communities, ranging from $7,600 in Wickliffe to $16,300 in Mentor. The newly-proposed salaries for Painesville City Council would match Willoughby’s current council salaries. Council adopted its last pay increase in early 2019. Minutes from a September 2017 City Council meeting indicate that in late 2017, council members had not had a raise in more than 14 years. Fodor said in August that council was set to bring up the question of pay again after it concluded negotiations with its employees. This year, council approved new collective bargaining agreements and provided employees with 5 percent raises in 2024, 3 percent raises in 2025 and 3 percent raises in 2026. Council members Lori DiNallo and Christine Shoop said that increasing council pay could encourage other community members to run for office. “We want to attract people to want to be in the seat of council members, and so the incentive has to be enough, the pay has to be enough that people actually want to run for the office, because it’s obviously a very important role, and the cost of campaigning and all of those things tie into it,” DiNallo said. “You don’t do this as a living, but if you make the salary a little bit more supplemental to an individual, they’re willing to take that time that it takes,” Shoop said. DiNallo added that the role of council members has changed in recent years. “Just the risk, the public presentation of yourself everywhere you go, the fact that you can be reached by email and are expected to respond within 24 hours,” she said. “Things like that have changed for council.” The proposed pay increase was introduced at council’s Sept. 16 meeting. It was sent to a second reading at council’s next meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Oct. 7. Some council members have discussed waiting until the legislation’s third reading to vote. Based on the council meeting schedule as of publication time, that meeting would be scheduled for 7 p.m. on Oct. 21.