FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The Fairhope City Council decided Monday to consider raising salaries of the mayor and council members at the next council meeting, which will be held Monday, Feb. 11.

“If there’s going to be any change it has to occur six months before the next election (in August),” Councilman Cecil Christenberry said Tuesday.

At Monday’s meeting, City Clerk Geniece Johnson presented a report comparing the salaries of mayors and council members in all Baldwin County cities and three other Alabama cities. The council requested the report at a special meeting on Jan. 18.

“There was some discussion about spending $7,500 for a report on salaries,” Councilman MIke Ford said. “I objected strenuously to that. That’s something we could do ourselves, and that’s what we did.”

Johnson’s report showed that Fairhope’s mayor currently makes $16,800 a year, and the council members $6,000 annually, with the council chairman earning $6,600.

The Fairhope mayor also serves as the city’s superintendent of utilities, earning approximately $73,000 a year in that position.

Johnson explained at the Monday council meeting that state law requires any changes in salaries must be finalized by Feb. 26.

“It’s a process that goes on every four years,” Ford said. “But it’s got a little more meaning this year when we’ve been turning down requests for funding from groups.”

At Monday’s meeting, funding requests from the Fairhope High School band and Baldwin County Trailblazers were denied. Council members stated the reason was a projected budget shortfall this year.

The council decision to make any changes in salaries at the Feb. 11 council meeting would become effective after the new council members and mayor are elected.

“That’s because we can’t vote on our own salaries,” Ford said.

Council Chairman Bob Gentle said Tuesday the council would discuss changing salaries at the next council meeting, and a vote will be taken that night.

“It all rests on whether we will be acting on the recommendations of the governmental structure committee,” Gentle said. “We had some discussion (at the Jan. 18 meeting) over separating the positions and about whether he should be paid part-time or full-time.”

A report presented in October by the Fairhope Governmental Structure Committee listed a number of recommendations to improve the operations of city government.

“The report says the salary for the mayor and council ought to be adjusted to prevailing market rates,” the committee’s chairman Chuck Zunk said Tuesday. “And once that’s been done, the positions of mayor and superintendent (of utilities) ought to be separated and the report goes on to explain why that might be.”

The final report of the committee presented to the council on Oct. 8, 2007, recommended the provision in the city code requiring the mayor to serve as superintendent of utilities should be repealed and the positions separated.

“However, we further recommend that this ordinance to separate the position of mayor and utility superintendent not be enacted until after the municipal election of August 2008 to allow ample time for orderly transition planning, professional compensation and benefits analysis, public comment and the opportunity for citizens and elected officials to discuss this issue during an election cycle,” the report stated.

The report stated that within the next several years “the positions must be separated because of the ever-increasing time demands on both positions associated with the following factors”:

• Implementing and annually updating a strategic plan;

• Implementing and annually updating long-range financial projections;

• Implementing a marketing strategy for the gas and water/sewer utilities, and implementing an appropriate expansion plan for services;

• Creating a transition-management plan within the various utilities because a large number of key employees are approaching retirement age;

• Managing an increasing complexity of issues driven by rapid growth in and near the city;

• Contingency planning for catastrophic events; and

• Increased assessment of capital projects balanced against the amount of funds available to the city.

The governmental structure committee report showed that unofficial estimates indicate Fairhope’s population is 16,164 as of July 2006, a 29 percent increase since the 2000 census when the population was 12,480.

The report also showed that 63 employees work in city-owned utility departments, which is approximately 28 percent of Fairhope’s total full-time employees. It also showed that FY 2006 audited financial statements indicated that utilities’ net assets are approximately 27 percent of Fairhope primary government assets, and that utility revenues are approximately 63 percent of total revenues.

“Having the mayor also serve as superintendent has worked successfully for Fairhope over the years,” the report stated. “However, over time as towns grow into cities and their population grows, the dual position of mayor/superintendent of utilities evolves in most situations into two separate positions.”

The report stated that Bay Minette and Daphne had followed that pattern.

“The larger the cities get, they tend to separate the positions,” Gentle said. “The bigger the city gets, the bigger the job of the mayor gets.”