The Port St. Lucie City Council worked overtime to give itself huge raises early Tuesday morning.
The council voted 4-1 at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday to increase the mayor’s salary by 62 percent and the councilmembers’ salary by 39 percent as of November 2020.
The pay hike was part of a marathon council meeting that started at 6 p.m. Monday and stretched past 1 a.m.
The pay raises are the first for the mayor and council in some 15 years, city records show.
Mayor Greg Oravec’s annual pay will rise to $80,969, the same as the St. Lucie County commissioners. His current pay is $49,843.
Councilmembers’ pay will increase to $49,229 from $35,431. That’s based on the city’s population compared to the county’s population.
Councilwoman Jolien Caraballo was the lone dissenter, but didn’t explain why. On Oct. 14, Caraballo said she didn’t agree with the raises philosophically without explaining further.
Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan, who had previously withheld her thoughts, came out strongly in support of the raises.
“I don’t see it as giving a raise,” Morgan said. “I consider it protecting future councils and paying it forward. … We are on the clock 24/7. I love the city. I’ve been here many years. I do this as a passion.”
Oravec said the raises are deserved because it’s a full-time job that entails dealing with constant demands from the public.
“I don’t feel like public service should enrich anyone, but I do hope it enables good people to run,” Oravec said.
“I hope that professional, highly-qualified people are able to run.”
Several city residents expressed support for the raises, but others questioned the amounts of the hikes considering so many city residents earn less than the mayor and council’s current pay.
Alice Cribbs called for “a more realistic increase.”
“My husband works an extremely labor-intensive job, he works 40-to-50 hours every week, he is making less than the current mayor is making to work part-time,” said Heidi Harris.
“We don’t have any say in the matter of walking into our jobs and saying, ‘Hey, I want a 60 percent increase,’” Harris said.
“Most of us would be walking out without a job.”