Increases in City Council and Mayoral pay will take effect in Newton on January 1st, 2026. Currently, each council member earns $1,500 per year while the Mayor’s annual salary is $4,900. Monday night, Newton Council members unanimously voted to change those numbers to $5,900 per year for each city council seat and $10,250 for the Mayor. 

First Ward Councilman Mark Hallam was initially against any change.

“But then after discovering it’s been so many years since that has been increased for city council members, I think we need to move on this so we can at least be somewhat competitive with other cities in our size range.”

At-Large Councilman and former Mayoral candidate Randy Ervin also said the pay increases were past due.

“I was fortunate to have dinner with the Mayor of Norwalk a couple of weeks back, and this was one of the topics I brought up to discuss with him. He literally chuckled when I told him what the mayor and council was getting paid.” 

Former council member and now Mayor Evelyn George says the last time there was an increase in the pay for Mayor and City Council members, was in the 1990s.