Some members of the Sandy Springs City Council disagree whether the city’s part-time elected officials should be entitled to city-funded health and retirement benefits.
Councilman Andy Bauman says benefits would help Sandy Springs attract a wider range of people to elected office. The lack of benefits creates a barrier of inequity for some residents who might otherwise run for office, he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Bauman sparked a heated conversation on the topic last week during a City Council work session. Words were exchanged and Bauman later apologized for describing opposing Council members’ responses as elitist.
“At no point did I intend to impugn the character or integrity of the mayor or my City Council colleagues,” Bauman said in a statement he issued Friday.
The discussion will continue at the next City Council regular meeting on Aug. 3 when the community can voice support or opposition. City Council will vote on a resolution directing the city manager to gather more information, Bauman told the AJC.
Sandy Springs estimates it will cost the city $94,000 to $160,000 each year to provide benefits to its seven elected officials. Most of the current Council members say they are not in favor of it.
City Council members’ annual salary is currently $18,000 per year. The mayor’s salary is $40,000. But the Sandy Springs Charter Commission recently approved a raise for City Council. If approved by the Georgia General Assembly in its 2022 session, the mayor’s salary will increase to $50,000 council members will get a raise to $25,000.
Bauman’s presentation during the Tuesday meeting showed several cities, including Alpharetta, Roswell, Dunwoody, Brookhaven and Smyrna, offer benefits to elected officials.
But Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul and councilmembers John Paulson and Tibby DeJulio said they believe paid benefits detract from a commitment to public service.
Paul said he would veto such a measure and acknowledged that City Council could override it.
DeJulio, who is the longest serving council member and was elected in 2005, said benefits to elected officials would bring a sense of entitlement to the role.
“That’s what happens in Atlanta or the (Fulton County Commission,)” he said. “Once you get elected you are pretty much there for the rest of your life, unless you do something really stupid.”
Bauman said several council members were making a judgment on who should or shouldn’t serve on City Council.
“This should not be a position for the wealthy and the retired,” Bauman said. “I think it’s highly elitist for this body to dismiss out of hand what would inspire people to run.” Bauman apologized later during the meeting for the statement.
Paul and council members said they were bothered by the “elitist” comments and said they serve because they love Sandy Springs.
Paul said as mayor he’s lost thousands in income from his private business in the lobbying industry.
“My business has dwindled to almost nothing because I have not solicited a single client,” Paul said. “And to hear you characterize me in that term ... when I know how much my family has sacrificed financially is uncalled for.”
Paul and Bauman were elected to office in 2013. Both are running for reelection in November.
“...If any of my words suggested that I was saying that as individuals any of them are “elitists” that was not my intent,” Bauman said in his Friday statement.
About the Author
