Sandy's elected officials can no longer receive merit pay, but vehicle and phone allowances will remain in place. 

That is what the city council decided on Feb. 10 after a pair of lengthy, sometimes contentious meetings. The proposal to remove allowances ran into legal concerns and criticism that it would make it more difficult for the mayor to carry out their job.

The ordinance, introduced by Councilmember Kris Nicholl, is meant to provide continuity between elections and build public confidence in elected officials.

"It would also put us in alignment with our budget policy statements, improve transparency, and give express ability to the council to set election officials' compensation packages and pay," Nicholl said when introducing the law at a council meeting on Jan. 20.

Councilmember Marci Houseman said she is in favor of excluding the mayor and city lawmakers from merit pay because it is meant as an incentive for employees, not elected officials.

"We are the governing body, and so things relative to recruitment and retention don't apply to us," Houseman said. "Our recruitment is: we're choosing to run for office [and] our retention is: do voters re-elect us?"

Councilmember at-large Brooke D'Sousa added that merit pay isn't appropriate since elected officials cannot be fired, so it doesn't work as an incentive to do a good job. The councilmember also questioned whether vehicle and phone allowances should be allowed for any government employee.

"I feel like those are old practices that had a place when things were different, if you had to use your phone and you had to pay extra for minutes … that made sense, and that doesn't exist anymore," D'Sousa said.

But removing allowances received pushback from other elected officials.

"You talk about a car allowance like it's a perk," Sandy Mayor Monica Zoltanski said. "... First of all, you are putting up your personal vehicle, you’re putting up your personal insurance, your liability. And the city has studied this issue in the past and found that it's a lot cheaper to do that than provide a city vehicle, than to provide even mileage reimbursement."

Councilmember at-large Aaron Dekeyzer also opposed removing the mayor's phone and vehicle allowances.

"I think it's a tool that … the mayor uses to do the job effectively, and I understand councilmember Nicholl's reasons like continuity, promoting public trust and transparency, but I think … stripping these allowances doesn't build trust or align anything better with our budget statements," Dekeyzer said at the Feb. 10 meeting. "The way I see it, this creates more confusion, and it makes it harder for the mayor to do their job effectively."

Zoltanski later noted that state law prohibits municipalities from forcing personnel to pay for business expenses out of pocket without reimbursement.

Utah's administrative code requires state agencies to reimburse individuals' out-of-pocket travel expenses incurred while performing official government duties. Councilmember Nicholl suggested passing the measure regardless. But other city lawmakers did not want to roll the dice on challenging state code.

Elected leaders will also remain eligible for cost-of-living adjustments, retirement and health insurance benefits.

The rule banning merit pay and other bonuses passed on a 7-0 vote.