Lehi's mayor has asked the City Council to more than triple his salary, and double their own.

The mayor recommended, through Rushton, that council members increase their own salaries to $1,500 per month; they now receive $770 per month. He also suggested his own mayoral salary be raised to $3,000 a month, up from $950.

The mayor also suggested that he receive an automatic travel stipend of $500 a month and the council receive $250 a month.

"He [Johnson] suggested I should address it because I am disinterested because it does not make any difference to me," Rushton told council members. "It is always a bit of a politically awkward issue because it deals with your compensation. The fact of the matter is that you are the only ones with authority to deal with that, and the responsibility.

"He specifically suggested this would be a good time to have this discussion because he knew he would not be here and that maybe that would enable more of a free discussion than if he were here."

Rushton presented council members with a survey of how mayors and councils around the state are paid, but said there is so much disparity, the information did not amount to much help.

"There is not a lot of commonality," he said. "To some extent I think it is an issue that is not directly tied to what everyone else is doing. It is perhaps more appropriately tied to what we are doing."

Paying too little could mean qualified candidates for office might be priced out of the running, he said.

"I would suggest your jobs are more difficult because we are a rapidly developing community where there are growth issues, and the issues are more burdensome for you than they would be in a city primarily built out," Rushton said.

Council members also spend time administering city functions.

"You all know the hours you spend," Rushton said.

Councilman Johnny Barnes called the issue "sensitive," and something that councils "never do during an election year."

Saying it was "not the chicken way out," Barnes recommended the city put together a committee of business people to make a recommendation on whether there should be an increase, and if so, how much.

"We are not here to get rich at all," he said. "That is not the intent. I hope that is not the intent. But on the other hand, it is not our intent to spend every night and vacation doing city business and spending our whole lives. This takes the sting out of it."

Rushton said former council members would be better able to judge the requirements of the job than city business leaders.

"It is hard for someone who has never done it to know the time required," Rushton said.

Barnes said a committee should be formed and asked to have a decision by July 1.

"I would like to say that I am really satisfied with my compensation," said Councilman Johnny Revill.

Revill said he would also be more comfortable with the city reimbursing council members for actual travel expenses, rather than an automatic $250 per month travel stipend.