ITHACA. N.Y. — Mayor Robert Cantelmo has asked that a proposal to raise the City of Ithaca’s mayoral salary be withdrawn.
A proposal to raise the mayor’s salary from $30,000 to $62,500 was passed as a budget amendment on Oct. 24 after surviving a fraught debate.
Now Cantelmo wants to see the proposal shelved. Its sponsors on Common Council confirmed in separate comments their intention to do so.
Cantelmo, who recused himself from the debate and vote last week on the mayoral salary increase, said in an emailed statement on Monday that he appreciated the intention of the proposal, but preferred to see pay for elected officials discussed through a process that included the opportunity for public feedback.
“I am motivated to serve our city from a place of civic pride and responsibility, not for compensation,” Cantelmo said. “I will continue to serve with that same level of vigor, dedication, and zeal irrespective of how I am compensated.”
Cantelmo said that he wanted to establish a citizen-led commission to review compensation for the city’s elected officials, which he previously proposed while Laura Lewis was mayor. He said he thought raises for elected officials should be fixed to terms, so that if a raise were approved for a given public office, it would apply to whomever won the next election for a given office.
“Therefore, while this may overstep my former willingness to recuse myself on this matter, I call on the sponsors of this amendment to remove it and return these funds to the city’s fund balance,” Cantelmo said.
Common Council is in the home stretch of the city’s 2025 budget process. On Oct. 24, council debated numerous amendments to add and subtract spending from the city’s proposed 2025 budget, which has reached nearly $108 million.
The amendment that was approved to increase the mayor’s salary would have set aside the funds to do so. For the salary increase to come into effect, it would have required council to pass a local law at a later date, according to City Attorney Victor Kessler.
The discussion on Oct. 24 over whether to increase the mayor’s salary was marked by heated exchanges and came to a bitter climax when three Common Council members who opposed the salary increase walked out of the meeting once it became clear they would lose the final vote on the proposal.
The disagreement over the mayor’s salary largely centered on Ithaca’s transition to a city manager form of government. In 2022, voters passed a referendum that changed the role of the city’s highest elected office. The transition came into effect in 2024.
Ithaca’s mayor used to serve as the CEO of the city, but those administrative duties were taken over by a city manager. Deb Mohlenhoff, who was appointed by Common Council as the first city manager, receives a $170,000 annual salary.
Under the new government structure, the mayor’s office is meant to focus on representing the city, local policy and community engagement. It was envisioned as a part-time position, and more of a ceremonial role. The salary was dropped from $61,489 to $30,000 at the start of the year.
However, by multiple accounts — including his own — Cantelmo has worked at least a regular 40-hour work week in the role, despite the part-time pay.
Council members critical of raising the mayor’s salary argued on Oct. 24 that Cantelmo has chosen to exceed part-time work, and that the issue requires public engagement before a decision is made.
Proponents of increasing the salary argued that Cantelmo’s workload shows the current mayoral compensation is inadequate, and that the city would benefit from an adequately compensated mayor.
During the council meeting, the amendment to increase the mayor’s salary passed 6-1 after previously failing in a 5-5 vote.
Alderpersons David Shapiro, Margaret Fabrizio, and Phoebe Brown left the meeting when the second vote on the mayor’s salary was introduced. In separate interviews on Oct. 25, Fabrizio and Shapiro defended their decision, while Brown apologized for the action.
Alderpersons Ducson Nguyen and Clyde Lederman, who proposed the increase to the mayor’s salary, said in separate comments on Monday they would heed the mayor’s request to withdraw the proposal.
In a written statement, Nguyen said he agreed with Cantelmo that raises for elected officials would be “best achieved through a community-driven process with the results applied to the next term” when a different representative might be elected to hold office.
Nguyen said he introduced the amendment to “correct” what he believed was a “mistake in so dramatically and arbitrarily” reducing the mayor’s salary as a part of the transition to a city manager form of government. He said even before the transition and salary cut, he considered the mayor to be significantly underpaid.
Lederman said in a brief phone interview that he would honor the mayor’s request.
“I think it shows that he has a lot of integrity and restraint and is a great public servant,” Lederman said. He added that he thought the previous iteration of council cut the mayor’s salary by too much and that at the current level, the salary is not high enough and excludes candidates of various economic backgrounds.
“I’m hopeful that there will be an increase, especially for the next term, so that it’s a position that will attract a lot of different people and attract the best of our citizens,” Lederman said.
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