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Council revives stipend Central Point folks must vote to raise it By SUSAN JAY CENTRAL POINT -- The City Council voted Thursday to reinstate a monthly stipend to compensate council members and the mayor. But after the vote, two councilmen, Dave Gilmour and Bob Gilkey, and Mayor Bill Walton said they would donate their stipends back to the city. The vote was part of the process of adopting the city's proposed $10.3 million budget. The only change to the proposed budget was an additional item in the public works department budget for a $25,000 natural gas-powered generator for use in emergency power outages. The council also voted that the monthly stipend could be increased only by a vote of the citizens, and that it return to the amount it was in 1990 -- $125 for council members and $250 for the mayor. The council asked the city staff to prepare a charter amendment for the November 1999 election setting the stipend at the 1990 amount and specifying that it can be changed only by a vote of the people. The stipend is a sore point between some current and former City Council members. The former City Council in December 1998 eliminated the monthly stipend, which was $200 for council members and $400 for the mayor. In June 1998, the same council had increased the stipend from $150 to $200 for council members and from $250 to $400 for the mayor. Mae McDowell, who was a city councilwoman last year, told the council Thursday that the stipend should not be reinstated. She said her opponents in the November 1998 council race said the incumbent council members were money-hungry and that the position should be only voluntary. Councilman Dave Gilmour said Thursday the council was reinstating the stipend because some members are on fixed or low incomes, and often cannot afford up-front expenses for City Council-related business, including meals and travel. Gilmour was the member who proposed that increasing the stipend be up to the voters. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA