LUMBERTON — The state General Assembly approved legislation that clears the way for the members of Red Springs’ Board of Commissioners and the town’s mayor to get a pay raise.
The legislation, HB 1057, to amend Red Springs’ charter was given final approval in the Senate on Thursday. Final House approval was given on Monday.
Legislative approval allows change to a pay scale that has been in effect for 43 years in Red Springs.
“We just thought it was time we were making a little more for the work we’re doing,” Mayor Edward Henderson said Tuesday.
The commissioners currently are paid $10 per meeting and the mayor is paid $100 a month. Red Springs’ elected officials are the lowest paid in Robeson County.
The legislation does not specify how much Red Springs’ commissioners and mayor are to be paid.
“The board of commissioners may fix its own compensation and the compensation of the mayor and any other elected officers of the town as authorized by G.S. 160A-64,” HB 1057 reads in part.
Henderson said the plan is for the town to conduct a survey of North Carolina towns similar in size to Red Springs to determine a pay range for council members and mayors. That information will be used to set pay for Red Springs’ commissioners and mayor.
“We don’t want to be on the low end or on the high end,” he said. “We just want to be in the middle.”
Rep. Garland Pierce, a Democrat from Wagram, was the primary sponsor of HB 1057. He introduced the legislation on May 31. Co-sponsors were fellow Democrats Rep. Charles Graham, of Lumberton, and Rep. Elmer Floyd, of Fayetteville.
