Please see the agenda for the Salary Setting Commission which will hold a public hearing to get feedback from the Public on Councilmember Salaries to be held March 13, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. in City Hall Tower Room 1446.
You may submit comments in person to city.clerk@sanjoseca.gov
The previous salary setting decision can be found here: https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/51735/637164035391100000 The determination made by the Salary Setting Commission sets the base that is then adjusted annually for cost of living.
The current Council Salary is $135,522.37 for Councilmembers and $205,994.00 for the Mayor.
The applicable language from the City Charter is as follows:
Between March 1st and April 30th commencing in 2019, and every five (5) years thereafter, the Salary Setting Commission shall set the amount of base salary which it deems appropriate for the members of the Council, including the Mayor, commencing July 1 of that year. The amount set for each member of the Council shall be the same, except that the amount set for the Mayor may exceed that of the other members of the Council. The base salary shall be in an amount which takes into account the full time nature of the office and which is commensurate with salaries then being paid for other public or private positions having similar full time duties, responsibilities and obligations. No determination of base salary amounts shall be made except upon the affirmative vote of three (3) members of the Commission. Failure of the Commission to make a determination of salary amounts in any year within the time prescribed shall be deemed to mean that no change to the base salary be made.
(b) The Salary Setting Commission’s determination of the Mayor and Council base salaries, together with the reasons therefor, shall be made in writing and submitted to the City Manager no later than May 1, so that funds can be budgeted and appropriated for that purpose. Before it submits any such determination to the City Manager, the Commission shall conduct at least one public hearing on the matter. When such a determination has been submitted to the City Manager, it shall not thereafter be amended by the Commission.
(c) Commencing July 1, 2020, and annually thereafter in years in which there are no base salaries set by the Salary Setting Commission under Section 407(a), in order to provide a cost of living adjustment, the base salaries of the Council and Mayor shall increase by a percentage equal to the percentage increase of the preceding calendar year’s annual average of the Consumer Price Index Urban (CPI-U), or successor index, for San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, as determined by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. In no event shall the CPI-U salary increase exceed 5% per year.