LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A $10,000 raise was on the table Tuesday for the Little Rock Board of Directors, but they quickly rejected it in a 7-3 vote.
Sitting on the city board is a part-time job that pays $18,000 a year. If the vote had passed, the annual salary for the 10 city directors would've increased to $28,000.
Little Rock Director Antwon Phillips sponsored the ordinance and asked to raise all board members' salaries by $10,000.
"The board hadn't received a raise since 2013," Phillips said.
According to Phillips, a raise would've included optional benefits and kept pay on par with cities of similar sizes amid inflation,
"I compare their salaries to present day, and they have all outpaced us," Phillips said. "For example, Salt Lake City, their board of directors make $40,000 a year... we're nowhere near that, even with this proposed increase."
The debate lasted an hour, and some board members vocalized why they opposed the raise.
"At a time when we know our employees are struggling," Little Rock Director Joan Adcock said. "To me, the employees come before myself."
While the ordinance ultimately failed, it sparked new conversations on raises in other city employee departments like code enforcement.
And a new raise for city employees isn't off the table.
"We did something about the police officers," Adcock said. "We're going to need to do something about the code officers because we want the best for all our employees in this city."