DETROIT (WXYZ) — You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who would say that Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey doesn't have a lot on her plate.
Winfrey manages a budget of over $17 million and oversees approximately 200 full and part time employees and about 10,000 poll workers.
"I'm over 500 precincts. Plus, I have a hundred absentee voter counting boards. Yet, with 36 precincts, Southfield pays their city clerk over $100,000. It's insulting," Winfrey told 7 Action News.
Winfrey's salary is $89,546.
Detroit's Elected Officials Compensation Committee recently requested that Winfrey and members of Detroit City Council submit requests for salary increases.
The members of council who signed a memo in response to that request are Scott Benson, Fred Durhal III, Mary Waters, Gabriela Santiago-Romero, and Angela Calloway. Winfrey also signed on in support of the collective salary increases.
"We believe a reasonable pay increase for City Council members in the amount of $115,000.00 and the Council President in the amount of $125,000.00 would be more appropriately reflective of the members who expend an average of 80 hours of service per week for an hourly rate of $27.64 per hour and $30.04 respectively, at a time where an individual needs approximately $32 per hour for a single headed household of four to move above the A.L.I.C.E. threshold for household stability," they wrote to the committee.
2023 Elected Officials Compensation Commission Memo_Attachment A by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit on Scribd
The memo continued, "In addition, we urge the EOCC to increase the compensation for the Detroit City Clerk to $150,000."
The city clerk in Columbus, Ohio makes $175,000 a year, according to a human resources report that also indicated that in Milwaukee, the clerk's salary is $107,789.
The clerk in the city of Ann Arbor reportedly makes $122,000 a year.
7 Action News spoke to Councilman Fred Durhal III Friday afternoon.
"We just want to ensure that we are compensated just like everyone else around the country," Durhal said. "The current salary from members of Detroit City Council was $89,545 a year."
Compare that to city council members in Seattle who make an annual salary of $135,000.
Durhal said people often don't realize that council members put in work seven days a week.
"We love what we do, though," he said.
The compensation committee is expected to make a decision on any salary increases next week Wednesday.
"I know that as an African American woman, I have to fight for what's fair, and I'm continuing that fight, unfortunately, in 2023, because, at the end of the day, if they were to replace me, I'm sure they couldn't do it for the low ball figure that I've been receiving."
