Voters say no to pay raises, yes to charter amendment

Members of the Yuma City Council will not be getting pay raises after a majority of voters said no to Proposition 401.

However, a majority of voters agreed to amend the city charter to conform to state statute by saying yes to Proposition 400.

According to unofficial results released by the city at 9 p.m. Tuesday, 66.5 percent (4,589 of voters) said no and 28.1 percent (1,941) said yes to Proposition 401.

If voters had approved Proposition 401, the mayor and city council members would have received a pay raise in 2014. The mayor’s salary would have increased from $12,000 to $18,000 a year, while compensation for council members would have increased from $3,600 to $5,000 a year.

The city charter review committee had recommended the pay raise, and the council decided to leave it up to voters.

According to unofficial results, 70.3 percent (4,850 of voters) said yes and 23.1 percent (1,592) said no to Proposition 400.

With voter approval, Proposition 400 will amend the city charter to say that dates for the city’s primary and general elections will conform to state statute.

Currently, the charter states the primary election will be held in September and the general election in November. A new state statute now allows for 10 weeks between the two elections, which places the primary in August.

A total of 6,896 ballots were cast. The preliminary unofficial results included early ballots and all six polling locations. But they did not include late early, provisional or conditional ballots, according to a city news release.

Mara Knaub can be reached at mknaub@yumasun.com or (928) 539-6856.