do you think it would be any fun to be a MAYOR of a smaller city?

[vash]

ok, forget being mayor of NYC or SF...what about being a MAYOR of a small town? think it is a PITA?

anyone ever been a mayor? i know someone, that had a dad that was a mayor, but i have never had the opportunity to pick his brain..

do you think you need to be rich from the get go? they can't possibly pay enough for a normal salary, can they?

question purely out of curiosity.

[mattdavis11]

I don't think it would be much fun. Small town mayors are often weak in terms of power. A ceremonial position, if you will. Rich? Probably, but the good ole guy probably wins a lot of the elections too. I wouldn't think they run for the money. It's about prestige within the community.

[bell]

I remember the mayor of the small town I grew up in (<5000people), knew his son.....they had a very nice house with pool (small town in ohio mind you) always had very nice cars (gm land so caddys and such).....
Iirc he made good money as mayor and wife was a stay at home mom....but my understanding is he owned a few businesses locally so already had money.....
Either way it was definatly a prestigious thing with the community, he was very hands on as to whatever was happening in town as far as the local gov was concerned......
I'm sure to get voted in in a small town you would've lived there for some time and have earned the respect of the locals.....jump up to 10,000+ residents and I think its going to be more politcal than personal touch.......

[ckissick]

Our local mayor (Half Moon Bay, pop 10,000) isn't rich or anything. The job probably doesn't pay much. It mostly seems to be prestige. The mayor is a local celebrity. It must be a big PITA for not much reward. Unless your name is Sarah Palin, of course.

[audiman08]

As long as you don't bite off more than you can chew.. A town with a lot of issues would look to you to solve these issues, and of course if you fail..you will probably not be popular from then on in your little town. It is a lot of responsibility and a lot of local political figures seem to make promises they can't keep.

[VaSteve]

I think it depends on the town. In really small towns, I think it's a part time job. Even still I don't think it's a well paying job for a small town. I live in a big county with a lot of people and I think the county supervisors (full time) can make like $100K.

There was one small town in PA where I think a 24 year won the election. I don't think people were exactly being down the door to do the job. The upside is the prestige or building upon it for political gain, if that's your thing.

If you're in it for money, Public Service isn't really for you.

[onlycafe]

clint eastwood was mayor of carmel some years back.

[gassy]

My cousin is the mayor of Coronado, Ca. He's also a teacher. Doesn't pay enough to be a full time gig.

[porsche4life]

The mayor in Clinton (~8k) is a part time gig... He is also a CPA

[osidak]

the mayor for Charlotte NC is a really a part time gig - think it pays about $35k

Think the metro area is about 1 million people

[LakeCleElum]

Nope - Too many special interests pulling you 15 different ways....You have the business interests, the neighborhood groups, the labor unions, the school board, state gov't, county gov't, etc......All with different goals wanting you to play ball with them........Working in City Gov't my whole career, I was very close to several mayors......Would never do it myself............

[NineOhOne]

Salary wise, becoming a mayor is not the way to riches...

[HardDrive]

No.

[porsche4life]

I can't believe San Antonio's mayor only makes 3k....

[NineOhOne]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

I can't believe San Antonio's mayor only makes 3k....

The salary is actually higher, but the mayor only draws $3k.

[mattdavis11]

Actually it's $4K salary, I think, and $50 for each council meeting attended for the San Antonio mayor, but the city manager makes $275K a year. With the SA mayor, it doesn't much matter to him how much he makes, it's a stepping stone. In all likelihood he replaces his brother, Joaquin, as State Rep. making $7200 per year + per diem, etc... For now, he (the mayor) likely has a plush lobby contract with the city to hit his brother up at the Capitol. He makes more that way and the people aren't going to rip him up too bad b/c they think he's making peanuts.

If you were wanting to look into running locally, take a good look at the form of local government before you do. There are several different types, such as Mayor-Council (weak&strong), Council-Manager, Commission, etc...

[RNajarian]

My brother was Mayor of Glendale CA a couple of years ago. They rotate the job among the City Council members. Currently he is on the City Council.

He really enjoyed the job, but as stated earlier it is only a part time job so between his law practice and the city job it was one busy year. By being on council he took a major pay cut.

The problem are the worthless gad flies who attend every meeting (reedevelopment, budget, zoning and council meeting). They have a major Napolean complex. They get a rush addressing the council members. They get five minutes to yammer on about just about anything they want.

One idiot sued the city for some inane reason. He lost, appealed, the case ended up at the CA Supreme Court where it was thrown out because it had no merit. It cost Glendale $600,000 in outside legal fees. The irony his main reason for being involved is to watch Government waste. Oh I forgot to mention the $250,000 worth of freedom of information requests.

And this is only one guy. There are at least a dozen more like him.

I couldn't do it.

[red-beard]

A tiny city just outside Houston, Danbury TX, the mayor recently commited suicide.

[flatbutt]

Our Mayor is part time , get around $5K/ year and catches ALL the grief for property taxes.