*NOT YET APPROVED* Attachment B
1 Ordinance No. _____
Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Chapter 2.04 (Council Organization and Procedure) of the Palo Alto Municipal Code to Increase the Salary of Council Members Effective January 2025
The Council of the City of Palo Alto ORDAINS as follows:
SECTION 1. Findings and Declarations. The City Council finds and declares as follows:
A. Article III, Section 17 of the Charter of the City of Palo Alto provides that compensation may be paid to council members in amounts not to exceed those provided by general law.
B. Council member salaries were last set in 2017 by Ordinance No. 5304 in the amount of $1,000 per month.
C. In 2023, the state legislature adopted SB 329, which allows a city of Palo Alto’s size to provide council members a monthly salary of $1,600.
D. Palo Alto is among the highest cost areas in California.
E. There is a need to ensure a council member’s time commitment is fairly compensated, to allow candidates of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds to fill the role without significant personal burden.
SECTION 2. Chapter 2.04 (Council Organization and Procedure) of Title 2 (Administrative Code) the Palo Alto Municipal Code is hereby amended as follows:
2.04.360. Salary of council members.
(a) The salary of the council members shall be $600.00 per month. Effective January 1, 2017, the salary of the council members shall be $1,000 per month.
Effective January 1, 2025, the salary of the council members shall be $1,600 per month.
(b) A city council me mber may waive any or all of the compensation permitted by this section.
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, clause or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portion or sections of the Ordinance. The Council hereby declares that it should have adopted the Ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase thereof irrespective of the *NOT YET APPROVED* Attachment B
2 fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid.
SECTION 4. The Council finds that this project is exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”), pursuant to Section 15061 of the CEQA Guidelines, because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the ordinance will have a significant effect on the environment.
SECTION 5. This ordinance shall be effective on the thirty -first day after the date of its adoption.
INTRODUCED:
PASSED:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTENTIONS:
ATTEST:
____________________________ ____________________________ City Clerk Mayor
APPROVED AS TO FORM: APPROVED:
____________________________ ____________________________ Deputy City Attorney City Manager