YOUNGSTOWN — With support questionable among city council members for a pay raise for the law director, the mayor is requesting that increase be 3 percent — significantly less than the 15 percent he initially proposed.

But Mayor Jamael Tito Brown is still recommending council, when it meets Wednesday, give a 15 percent raise to the finance director.

In a Jan. 11 Vindicator article, a majority of council members expressed support for the 15 percent pay raise for the finance director, but not for the law director.

Brown on Dec. 9 proposed 15 percent increases for the director jobs, which haven’t received pay raises in the past 13 years.

Brown said Friday he reduced the amount to 3 percent — 1 percent annually for the past three years — because of concerns some council members had with the amount spent by the city on outside legal work.

“When we talked about it, one of the issues was outsourcing,” he said. “We’re looking how to reorganize the department to get specialty attorneys. If we do this, we can get in-house attorneys and justify the raise. It’s a good balance.”

Asked if he believed council would support the raise for Law Director Jeff Limbian, Brown said: “I look forward to them considering it. I think it’s a fair request if we want to attract talent and reduce outsourcing.”

Council members in December asked Brown for more information to justify the increases, and since have asked him a number of times when he was going to sponsor legislation. In the Jan. 11 article, several said they either weren’t going to back 15 percent raises for Limbian or were uncommitted.

Limbian and Kyle Miasek, deputy finance director who has served as interim finance director since January 2018, are currently paid $83,948.54 annually.

The legislation to be considered Wednesday — and discussed at Monday’s council finance committee meeting — increases the finance director’s annual salary to $96,553.60. A separate ordinance calls for the law director’s annual salary to be raised by 3 percent to $86,467.47.

WHERE THEY STAND

At least four of council’s seven members back the raise for Miasek.

But only two — Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, and Basia Adamczak, D-7th — have said they support a raise for Limbian. Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd, said she won’t vote for either salary increase because those salaries should take effect at the start of the mayor’s next term, which is Jan. 1, 2022.

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, who previously said he didn’t support the 15 percent raise for Limbian, said Friday that he won’t vote for the lesser raise.

“The position deserves higher pay, but the person in the position doesn’t,” he said. “Arguably, the three most important positions in the city are mayor, law director and finance director – the board of control. The pressure and weight of the (law director’s) position deserves higher pay, but unfortunately the person there isn’t up to the job. For me, it’s a no. (Brown) needs a new law director.”

Oliver supports raising Miasek’s salary.

Councilman Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, said he believes salaries for department heads shouldn’t be controlled by council members, who can change it depending on whether they like or dislike the person in the job.

“It should be the position and not the individual,” he said. “That’s the mayor’s job. It’s not just these two, but the entire cabinet. We shouldn’t be highballing one and lowballing another.”

But Hughes isn’t ready to decide yet.

“I haven’t gone over it,” he said Friday. “I haven’t spoken to my colleagues and I haven’t heard the mayor’s explanation. I look at the facts, all the circumstances. I consider all that’s happened. It should be fair to everyone. Established salaries should be put in there.”

WHY NOW

City voters in November approved a charter amendment 58.8 percent to 41.2 percent allowing the salaries to be determined by council, rather than the old charter language that stated the pay is 80 percent of the mayor’s salary, which is now $104,936.

Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, previously said she supported pay raises for both only if the jobs of prosecutor and deputy finance director were officially eliminated. But she backed away Friday, saying she wants to discuss incorporating the duties of a central purchasing agent — which Brown wants — into the deputy finance director job.

“I have seen movement on the finance side,” she said. “I haven’t seen any movement on the law side. I haven’t seen anything to make prosecutor part of the law director’s duties. I’m just not happy.”

Councilwoman Lauren McNally, D-5th, previously said she backed the pay raise for finance director, but hadn’t made up her mind about the law director – and was critical of Limbian and the law department.

She said Friday about Brown’s proposal to lower Limbian’s raise: “I’m confused by it and curious to hear his rationale for that.”

Brown has said the raises are needed to attract and retain good people for the two jobs.

The two positions make less than the fire and police chiefs, who are each paid $94,250.17 annually. Miasek would make more money — $84,729 a year — as deputy finance director than as finance director. The city’s chief information officer, who works under him, makes $91,079.78 annually.

Miasek has been doing the job of interim finance director and deputy finance director for more than three years, saving the city more than $375,000 while Limbian also serves as city prosecutor, saving the city about $300,000 during the same time.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com