Atlanta, GA
Bigger pay day may be pending for Atlanta mayor, City Council, school board
Atlanta’s top leaders could get big pay bump
Pay day could soon be a lot sweeter for Atlanta’s mayor, council members and school board members. The city’s Elected Officials Compensation Commission made recommendations that included raises from 30 to more than 100 percent.
ATLANTA – Pay day could soon be a lot sweeter for the Atlanta mayor, council members and school board members.
The City’s Elected Officials Compensation Commission made recommendations that included raises from 30 to over 100-percent.
These are jaw-dropping salary increases, but the commission chairman says his group worked from the premise that anyone who runs for city council should be able to afford a home in the city.
“We also looked at housing trends in Atlanta, and we have some recommendations for you all,” said Attorney Quinton Washington during a meeting Monday.
Washington says he believes a city council member or school board member should be able to live out the American dream in the city they serve.
Washington says that means salaries for council members, school board members, and even the mayor, should go up.
“The average house price in Atlanta is roughly $400,000,”Washington said.
Here are the numbers:
The mayor’s salary would jump from $202,730 to $271,000. The council president’s pay would increase from $72,400 to $132,500. Council members would go from $72,360 to $127,500, and school board members would go from $30,000 to $70,000, which is a 133-percent bump.
“We want stability on the school board and with what’s required of people from the school board, what they were making and what they required to do as we think, causing there to be instability on the school board. These are our children,” Washington explained.
Washington says the commission’s recommendations were compared with peer cities like New York, Cincinnati and Charlotte.
He believes more qualified candidates would be the end result for these soon-to-be full-time positions.
“It’s a value in the City of Atlanta to allow government to be open to all. It does prevent barriers to entry for some people who feel like they want to run, but some people can’t because they don’t have enough money based on the salary, if they were given the position to be able to live off of. We want this to be open to single parents, mothers or fathers,” Washington professed.
Council will debate and vote on these pay increases in January.
The Source: FOX 5 Atlanta’s Aungelique Proctor reported this story from Atlanta.
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The public is getting its first look at the two pandas that will be heading from China to Zoo Atlanta.
NBC’s Janis Mackey Frayer was able to visit female Fu Shuang and male Ping Ping before they make the nearly 8,000-mile flight. The giant pandas are both 6 years old and are headed to the United States as part of a new decade-long conservation agreement between China and the U.S.
Ping Ping’s keepers say he tends to follow them around, which is atypical behavior for a panda, but may be because of the food they have for him. Fu Shuang — which translates to “double happiness” — is playful, but nervous, and enjoys placing her chin on her paw. She also likes apples and has a penchant for finding them.
“Because we will hide pieces of apples, for example under the tree … she can find them everywhere,” panda keeper Wang Shun told Mackey Frayer, noting her “clever” behavior.
The pandas are part of an international cooperative research agreement on giant panda conservation between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, a renewal of panda diplomacy between America and China that began in 1972.
“Zoo Atlanta is delighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species and to partner with the China Wildlife Conservation Association on the continued conservation and research efforts that are the most important outcomes of this cooperation,” Zoo Atlanta President and CEO Raymond B. King said in a statement in April.
“We can’t wait to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and to welcome our Members, guests, city, and community back to the wonder and joy of giant pandas.”
Pandas are already at zoos in Washington, D.C., and San Diego. Zoo Atlanta maintained a panda agreement with China from 1999 until 2024, when Lun Lun and Yang Yang went back to their home country, along with their two youngest cubs.
Animal behaviorist James Ayala marvels at how pandas mature.
“You see cubs and they seem so cuddly and clumsy and cute. And then they grow up into these big, majestic bears,” he told Mackey Frayer.
Fu Shuang and Ping Ping will be transported further south into a mountainous region where they will be prepped to make the trip to the U.S. It is unknown when they will leave.
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