A proposal to increase the Langley mayor’s pay was such an unpopular idea that even the elected official herself opposed it.

During a city council meeting this week, Councilmember Rhonda Salerno suggested lowering the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for city employees by 1% and eliminating the stipends that council members receive so the mayor can be paid a living wage.

The mayor is currently paid an annual salary of $12,000, a change the city council made in 2023 with the assumption that a city administrator would take on much of the day-to-day administrative duties. But the last person to fill that role left in January 2024, and since then, Mayor Kennedy Horstman has decided not to hire another because the city can’t afford it.

Decreasing the COLA from 2.7% to 1.7% would bring in

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