Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer backs down on 21% pay raise; settles for 6% instead

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer backs down from 21% pay hike. / Headline SurferPhoto for Headline Surfer / Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, shown here, still gets three times the pay raise of the rank-and-file employess at City Hall with his amended raise.

ORLANDO -- The intense media scrutiny and public outcry over the 21 percent salary increases for himself and his elected colleagues on the City Council was too much for even Mayor Buddy Dyer to endure.

And so one week after voting himself and the others the mega raises, Dyer did an about face Monday and counter-offered a more palatable 6 percent increase.

Instead of seeing his $160,892 salary go to $195,500, it would climb to $170,545.

Still, the 6 percent hike is three times what other municipals workers are slated to receive in the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

Sticking to his guns philosophically, the mayor said the initial raise request was justified based on the marketplace, but acquiesced, saying in part: "Upon reflection, while the economy is still recovering, I think the percentage of the increase probably sends the wrong message to the public." 

Sticking to his guns philosophically, the mayor said the initial raise request was justified based on the marketplace, but acquiesced, saying in part: "Upon reflection, while the economy is still recovering, I think the percentage of the increase probably sends the wrong message to the public." 

Under the 6 percent increase, Dyer's elected colleagues would see their pay jump about $3,000 to $52,346, as opposed to the 21 percent raises that would have increased their pay to $60,000 each.

Commissioners Tony Ortiz and Tony Stuart voted against the amended pay hikes for themselves and the mayor just as they had done in in the 5-2 vote for the bigger pay raise.

Commissioners Sam Ings, Daisy Lynum, Patty Sheehan and Jim Gray joined Dyer in voting for the 6 percent salary increase, just as they had done with the 21 percent hike a week ago Monday.

FAST FACTS: Salary Comparisons

Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs makes less than Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer / Headline SurferOrange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, shown here, makes far less than Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, even before any raises are cinsidered.
 Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer already makes $8,370 more than his counterrpart, .Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs., without factoring in his 6 percent raise. Jacobs earns $152,522.
 

Did You Know?

The Orlando Sentinel named Buddy Dyer "The most powerful person in Central Florida" for 2008.

Previous Coverage:

Orlando mayor's whopper of a raise big news; so, too, is NSB city attorney's $215,000 salary
Posted Thu, 2013-09-19 05:02
 
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer hits paydirt / Headline SurferOrlando mayor & Co. vote themselves whopping 21% pay hikes
Posted Thu, 2013-09-19 01:03