Monzel's Response - Cutting Council Salaries

Q. When is Cincinnati City Council members going to cut their salaries (be fiscally responsible) as some promised in their last running for their seat? If elected or re-elected, will you please pay yourselves as a PART-TIME employee? I will never make your kind of money working FULL-TIME at my government job, which is 40 plus hours weekly. Give me your truthful responses and why has it not been done? You should make between $25K to $30K maximum. We elect you as PART-TIME employees, and most of you have FULL-TIME employment elsewhere?

A. I have always supported cutting council salaries in half and still do so. The reason this has not happened is because it takes at least 6 votes on council to put the issue on the ballot (the city charter needs to be amended which can only be done by a majority vote of the public). I’m one vote, 5 more are needed.

In 2005, I sponsored the city charter amendment that froze council salaries from increasing without a vote of council. Prior to 2005 council received an automatic, un-voted, salary increase almost every year.