Two referendums have been added to the Marco Island 2024 presidential primary election ballot after votes by City Council on Jan. 8. One referendum proposes to change the chair and vice-chair titles to mayor and vice-mayor, and the second proposes raises to Council salaries.
Changing the chairman titles to mayor titles was brought forward by Vice Chairman Erik Brechnitz in September. Council discussed whether the mayor should have more power than the rest of Council and if the city clerk should report to the mayor instead of the city manager, but ultimately decided a name change is enough.
“I think that this form of government suits the community very well, but I do think that the simplicity of the title change actually does provide some type of benefit,” Chairman Jared Grifoni said. “I think there are a lot of people in the state of Florida, there are a lot of governmental agencies, there are a lot of elected officials at the state level and above. I would hazard a guess that most of them, when you tell them that you’re the chairman, have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Councilor Becky Irwin said having an official mayor could create a warmer sense of community within the city.
“I think that it adds to the small-town charm to have a mayor. I think that’s a very folksy and old-timey position and a feeling,” Irwin said. “And I think that actually might help personify for the public, a person on the City Council who represents the community in that way.”
The referendum originally stated the mayor would be chosen every two years by those on the City Council, but the majority of Council agreed to having it as a one-year term.
Council voted 6-1 to put this referendum on the ballot.
The second referendum was brought forward by Grifoni and proposes salary increases for each City Council member. Starting in the 2026-27 fiscal year, council members would be paid $11,500 per year, an increase from $6,000. The chair will receive $17,200, an increase from $9,000. The salary will then be increased each year depending on cost-of-living increases. Salaries for council members have not been increased since the city was founded in 1997.
Council members Brechnitz and Joe Rola disagreed with the increase.
“I think this is a public service job. I think the compensation has absolutely nothing to do with why I’m here and I suspect why most of us up here are here,” Brechnitz said.
Councilor Darrin Palumbo said a more than $5,000 increase could create a bigger candidate pool for elections. Councilor Greg Folley said this is important, especially with Florida’s new Form 6—Full and Public Disclosure of Financial Interests form, which allows the public to search elected officials’ net worth and assets more than $1,000.
“I don’t know if it would’ve made a difference if I would have run or not if there was $5,000 more, but it might make a difference to people,” Palumbo said. “That’s a big amount of money for some people. It’s a big amount of money for some who don’t have maybe the backgrounds up here and haven’t created the wealth that we have. I certainly support it.”
The Council voted 5-2 to put the referendum on the ballot.
Both referendums will appear on the ballot March 19 for Marco Island residents.
