Oro Valley Council Votes 7-0 to Raise Its Own Pay: Mayor's Salary Set at $21,863.70, Public Camping Ban Adopted
The town council of Oro Valley, in Pima County, Arizona, voted 7-0 on the evening of October 21 to raise council members' annual pay to $17,260.81 and the mayor's salary to $21,863.70, and to tie future pay to the across-the-board raises town staff receive. An earlier proposal before the council would have raised the mayor's pay from $12,740 to $37,000 and council pay from $10,058 to $31,000, nearly tripling both; the increase ultimately adopted was below that proposal.
Vice Mayor Melanie Barrett, who made the motion, said the figures reflect what the council would have earned had its pay kept pace with staff cost-of-living adjustments under a 2006 resolution, and the resolution also removed a car allowance. Barrett takes office as mayor on November 4; the meeting was the last regular meeting for Mayor Joseph C. Winfield and council members Josh Nicolson and Joyce Jones-Ivey, all of whom voted for the increase.
The same evening, the council also voted 7-0 to adopt Ordinance (O)26-13, banning camping on town property and in washes and flood-prone areas. Pitching tents, laying down bedding to sleep, storing belongings, starting fires, cooking, or living in a parked vehicle on public property are violations, punishable as a class 1 misdemeanor, and officers should first give people a reasonable chance to relocate before an arrest. The ordinance also tightens the rules on pedestrians remaining in traffic medians. (GSM, based on Tucson Daily Brief reporting)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 从 Oro Valley 远眺 Pusch Ridge，Danman083 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0（Wikimedia Commons） / Pusch Ridge viewed from Oro Valley, by Danman083, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
