Mayor takes responsibility for improper timing of 2023 pay increase ordinance

NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT

Friday, Oct. 14, 2022 — In response to a story by Don Thrasher on his Nelson County News-Sentinel, Mayor Dick Heaton took responsibility for the mistake that led the council to approve an ordinance to raise the next mayor’s pay effective Jan. 1, 2023.

Thrasher’s story credited council candidate Gaye Ballard for the complaint that alerted city officials that the pay raise ordinance they approved in May was approved too late according to state law.

In a letter to the editor, Heaton made it clear that said the mistake was his alone.

“I take full responsibility in putting the ordinance on the council agenda for reading and a vote after the deadline,” Heaton wrote. “It was not intentional.”

He explained that most state statutes related to City financial matters start or end at the beginning or end of a given month. However, in regard to voting to increase mayor’s compensation, that deadline was the first Monday in May.

“I should have made sure of the deadline, but did not.”

“This was not a malicious act or corruption as Gaye Ballard or Don Thrasher would have you believe,” he wrote.

The council’s approval of that ordinance was done before the June 7th filing deadline for candidates for Mayor. The May 24 final vote and approval was more than a month before the new fiscal year, six months before the November election, and eight months before the increase would take effect.

At Tuesday’s city council meeting, the council took the corrective action to correct the error.

When the council considered raising the mayor’s pay in May, they agreed that the $30,000 compensation the mayor received was inadequate. And looking to the future, the council was concerned the low compensation wouldn’t attract a competent, experienced person to run for mayor in the future.

In a response to Heaton’s letter, Thrasher noted that his story did not accuse the mayor or council of malicious intent or corruption.

“The article I wrote simply pointed out the facts that the pay increase was improperly passed,” Thrasher wrote in an email to the Gazette.

“If this was a simple mistake, the Mayor should be thanking Mrs. Ballard for pointing it out, not going on the defensive about corruption when that was never stated,” his letter stated.

The council can address the mayor’s compensation in four years, but will need to have the final approval complete before the first Monday in May.

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