Dumfries Town Council votes to give themselves pay raises 

The Mayor, Vice-Mayor, and the other five members of the Council will receive raises to their annual salaries.

• Dumfries Town Manager Keith C. Rogers Jr. found remaining funds from two different sources in order to afford the raises.
• The COLA (Cost of Living) fund had extra funds available since some town employees had left for other jobs. 
• The remaining funds were used after all town employees were given their annual 2% raises
• The second source came from a community projects fund that was left with a remaining $10,000 from an initial $25,000.
• Those community grants were never awarded.

Why it matters: Town Council members had not received a raise in at least 12 years. 

Here is a breakdown of the levels that the Town Council will receive.

• The mayor’s annual salary will  jump from $8,000 to $12,000 per year
• The vice mayor’s annual will increase by 32%, from $7,300 to $9,600.
• The remaining five council members will see their salaries jump by 61%, from $5,216 to $8,400.

By comparison, members of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors collect an average salary of about $45,000.

• But the town is also much smaller, as Dumfries’ population equates to about one percent of the total population of Prince William County.

The Council will start receiving their raises in February 2020.

• The Town Manager and The Town Attorney will not receive raises but will likely get them after their annual job performance evaluations.