Will Dumfries council take pay cut?

Dumfries Town Council’s pay — how much should be cut, if any — is expected to be brought up Tuesday following a public hearing on a proposed tax hike.

The hearing is set for 6:45 p.m. Tuesday on a proposal to raise the rate from 28.7 cents per $100 of assessed value to 41.7 cents.

The council was recently told by the town manager that without the tax hike and a short-term loan, the government would be broke before the end of the year.

Additionally, Town Manager Kimberly Alexander recommended cutting about $219,000 from the budget. Part of this would be done by furloughing town employees at a savings of about $72,000.

Mayor Fred Yohey said that’s not enough and other options should be explored. One of them would be for the council to take a pay cut.

The issue of council pay was raised by Councilman Cliff Brewer during an Oct. 23 meeting on the budget crisis. Brewer suggested the council forego its pay for a year, pointing out that Occoquan Town Council members make a dollar a year.

The Dumfries mayor makes $670.03 a month. The vice mayor is paid $556.36 a month and the other five council members make $446.69. The total yearly cost is more than $41,500.

The idea fell flat and no action was taken.

Yohey said after the meeting that he began to reconsider the issue.

“It became clear to me, the more I thought about it, if the employees are asked to pay their fair share and we are going to ask the taxpayers to take a hit, the council has to step up and pay their fair share,” Yohey said.

“It’s not going to be an insignificant amount, but it’s not going to be 100 percent,” Yohey said.

Yohey questioned Brewer’s motivations for asking council to completely forego its pay.

“He’s missing the whole point,” Yohey said. “This is a problem of hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Yohey described Brewer’s suggestion as “grandstanding.”

“Mr. Brewer has higher ambitions,” Yohey said. “Maybe he was trying to do something to make himself look better.”

“I think [Yohey] is missing the point,” Brewer said. “The whole point of being on the town council is not about money. It’s about serving your community. It’s about trying to do what’s right and trying to make progress.

“I’m not grandstanding. I’m dead serious about this. You would be saving $41,000,” Brewer said. “Everybody has got to take a hit.”

Brewer said he too is going to raise the council pay issue and will place a motion before council that it forego its pay for a year.

In another potential cost-cutting measure, Yohey said he will recommend that a study be conducted on the number of police officers needed for a town of 1.6 square miles and 5,000 residents.

“We have not done enough to examine the police department,” Yohey said. “I think it’s time we stepped up and became community leaders by asking for something to be done objectively.”

Dumfries police Capt. Ron Mackey said that such a study has already been done.

“I don’t remember under which town manager, but I believe it showed that we were understaffed for what we need to provide 24-hour service,” Mackey said.

Dumfries has a 14-member police department but is not currently fully staffed.

Staff writer Aileen Streng can be reached at 703-878-8010.