SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif – Councilmember Heather Horgan’s son worked at Grocery Outlet making minimum wage in high school. She makes less than he did per hour as a city council member now.
City council will soon vote to give itself a standard 5% raise starting in late January, increasing yearly pay for its members from $16,734 per year to $18,449 per year. But with the amount of time members say they spend on council per week, most will still be making less than minimum wage.
Council members, when interviewed individually, estimated they spend anywhere from 10 to 40 hours per week on council-related activities. Three of the four interviewed for this story said they spend a minimum of 20 hours on council activities per week. Councilmember David Jinkins was not able to be reached for comment.
“The public only sees two meetings a month for the most part,” Councilmember Scott Robbins said. “There’s a humongous gap between what’s visible and what actually needs to happen.”
If a council member spends an average of 20 hours per week on council, their pay would currently equate to $16.09 per hour, 81 cents less than California’s $16.90 minimum wage. After the proposed 5% raise, that number would increase to $17.74 per hour. That barely outpaces California’s minimum wage increase to $17.40 on Jan. 1, 2027.
But the majority of council members said 20 hours is a light week for them. In the 25 to 40 hours per week range, that hourly figure plummets.
It looks more like $12.87 per hour...
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