Carson City School Board defends pay raise

Carson City School Board members voted to more than double their pay saying they deserved it, people would be more likely to seek office because of it and pay was going to increase soon anyway.

This week, their pay went up from about $160 a month to $400 a month. Five members voted for it, one abstained and one was on vacation.

A state bill that passed this year would have set pay at $400 in January 2009 even if members didn't vote for a raise. It gave school boards the option of raising pay before the mandatory increase.

Before the bill took effect on July 1, members had the option of raising their pay to as high as $510 a month.

Trustee Joanna Wilson, who voted for the raise, said members deserved the raise because they do a lot of work outside official meetings, such as talking with residents, going to unofficial meetings and preparing for meetings.

"I think the general consensus of the board was that it was kind of about time, that there is enough work by members outside of meeting time," she said.

Wilson noted the board hasn't gotten a raise in the seven years she's been in office and that they work a minimum of 10 to 15 hours a week.

"It's not a full time job, that's for sure," she said, "but it takes time."

Bob Crowell, another member, said he works about 20 hours a month for the board, and that the new pay rate is a better representation of all the work they do as a major city organization.

"I didn't really see what the difference was between getting it mandated and voting it in," he said. "If it's right in a year, it's right now."

For the responsibility of managing over $50 million and serving thousands of citizens, members deserve the raise, he said.

Board President John McKenna said the raise is good public policy that will help attract younger people to run for the board.

An extra $240, he said, might be enough to sway possible candidates in 2008.

"Say mom has two kids in middle school and is thinking about running. But (she thinks), 'Even if I won, I couldn't afford it. I couldn't get a baby sitter so I'm not even going to consider it. I'm not even going to try.' Hopefully this way, they'll try."

Joe Edge, the member who abstained from the vote, said it wasn't the board's role to vote for or against a pay raise. He said the state put the board in an "entirely awkward situation" with the bill it passed.

Though, he said, some people thought he was "kind of a weenie boy" for not voting against the pay raise, his vote was right from a philosophical point of view.

In 2009 when the state school board bill takes effect, members in counties with fewer than 20,000 people with get $250 a month, members in counties with 20,000 to 100,000 people will get $400 a month and members in counties with more than 100,000 people will get $750 a month.

• Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.