Moody awarded salary increase on split vote

by Mark Vasto
Landmark reporter

One week before Valentine’s Day, the Platte City Board of Aldermen decided to show City Administrator Keith Moody a little love in the form of a pay raise.

The action came at a special meeting of the board held Monday night at city hall.

Moody, who currently draws $64,125 in compensation from the city, will see his salary increase slightly more than two percent to $65,505. Moody previously received a 1.8% cost of living increase, which went into effect on Nov. 1.

Before voting on the matter, Mayor Dave Brooks invited Moody to present a survey conducted by the Mid-America Regional Council—a metropolitan planning organization and association of city and county governments for the 115 cities and eight counties in the bistate Kansas City region—which outlined the salaries and fringe benefits of city administrators for cities with a 2000 census population of between 2,500 and 12,500.

The average salary for such positions, according to survey, was $70,767. Moody pointed out that the number was a conservative one, since the last year specified in the survey was 2002.

Platte City, which has a population of 3,866 according to the census, offers a minimum annual salary of $51,996 and maximum salary of $67,596. The city had budgeted a 3.5% merit increase in their budget for the city administrator position.

Ward 2 Alderman Ron Porter objected to the pay raise.

“I think we need to freeze the city administrator salary,” Porter said during discussion. “We’ve had to raise taxes in the city and I’m not sure we can afford to pay any more.”

Aldermen Lee Roy Van Lew and George McClintock disagreed with Porter’s assessment.

“(The percentage) is below his proposed goal, which is well below the average of $70,767...we’re $4,500 less,” Van Lew said.

“The unfortunate fact that we had to raise taxes in this city was based on a lot of outside influences,” asserted McClintock. “It wasn’t a problem with city management.”

McClintock also speculated that the action of not giving Moody a raise would send a signal to the city administrator that they weren’t happy with his job performance.

“My dealings with him show that he is doing the job,” said McClintock. “He is being paid well under surrounding city’s salaries, he’s asking for less than what we’ve budgeted for and I think we should give him the pay raise.”

The aldermen voted 4-1 in favor of the raise, with Porter the sole “no” vote. Alderman Gary Brown, a candidate for mayor in the upcoming election, was unable to attend the meeting.