Six residents will help decide whether future Sedona City Council members get a pay raise.
Council members unanimously approved the appointment of six people to the newly formed City Council Compensation Review Work Group, tasked with researching and recommending to council, by the end of the year, whether the current monthly salaries of $550 for city council members and $800 for the mayor should be increased, by how much or not at all.
The work group is tasked with reviewing and recommending compensation including salary, benefits and expense allowances for mayor and council members, ensuring the compensation aligns with the size of the city, the workload and similar cities.
During its meeting Tuesday, Feb. 24, council selected Brock Delinski, Kali Galewski, C.J. Tronnier Gershon, Diane Phelps, Laura Rumann and Sean Smith. Human Resources Manager Russ Martin is also assigned to the group. City Councilman Pete Furman, who is leaving office in November, will serve as the chairman and will be a voting member.
Sarah Wiehl, chairwoman of the Planning & Zoning Commission, had applied to the committee as well, but was not recommended because Galewski also serves on P&Z. Henry Silbiger, who is running for mayor of Sedona, also applied, but staff recommended no 2026 candidates for council should be selected.
The initiative was proposed by Furman during the December priority retreat “to broaden the opportunity to be a council member to more people than what seems to be the pattern of retired Sedona residents,” he said.
Council approved the group’s charter during its Jan. 27 meeting and called for volunteers from Feb. 2 through 16.
Furman has cited the process used by the city of Flagstaff, which in November 2022 approved a phased 250% increase of its mayoral salary from $38,500 to $70,180 and increasing a council member’s salary from $25,000 to $63,800, as well as increasing a travel and meals stipends.
“I have not made up my mind,” Furman said about what he would like council compensation raised to.
“I want to actually learn about what they did in Flagstaff and think about what we could do here,” he said. “But I do know that there’s a significant opportunity cost that’s lost for working people being on the council, and I want to try to address that.”
The work group’s meetings will be open to the public. The specifics for how the work group will operate has not yet been determined —the details will be left up to the work group to decide, though Furman said he is aiming for 90-minute meetings across three to four sessions.
“The future of the city was still, can be still, should be a community of all people that live here, retired here, work here,” Furman said. “That’s what I want to see continue — that Sedona remains a community of people that live here.”
The Work Group should conclude its work no later than September, the council agenda reads.
If approved, any salary increases would not take effect until after the Tuesday, Nov. 3, General Election, and would require final approval by City Council.