Watsonville City Council passes ordinance to increase pay for councilmembers and mayor

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION-TV)- The City of Watsonville is one step closer to increasing the pay for their council members and mayor.

On Tuesday night, the City unanimously passed to adopt the first reading of the ordinance to increase pay and each council member is paid just over $670 a month with Watsonville's mayor making $770 per month.

If the ordinance is ultimately adopted, Watsonville City Council Members could raise their monthly take-home pay to a maximum $1600.

This could be the first time the city raised salaries for council members since 1984.

In the face of rising living costs for Santa Cruz County a call for increased compensations gaining traction among the mayor and council members of Watsonville.

For some people of the Santa Cruz County they are showing support for the Watsonville City Council's decision to give themselves money.

“To me it seems like it expands the variety of people and, in the community who can run for city council because there would be additional funds maybe that would pay for childcare to allow them to attend the meetings that are required, said Karen Araujo. "Maybe it would allow a two income family to go to one and a half incomes so I think that's a great idea.”

Adopting the proposed ordinance would result in an annual increase in total salaries in the Council’s budget of $85,003.

Ari Parker, Watsonville Councilmember argued that the increase pay raise for city councilmemebers will allow more young people to chime in and help out the city.

“It's a great start for the young people of the city be able to be compensated for all the time that they want to give, Parker said.

The proposed ordinance would set council member compensation at $1,600 per month, and would go into effect December 2024.