Marysville council poised to raise its salaries for first time in nearly 20 years
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- Council approved a consent calendar item proposing pay be raised to $585 per month.
- The raise nearly doubles annual council spending from $18,000 to $35,100.
- The raise will take effect after when new members are sworn in January.
Marysville City Council members are poised to nearly double their pay in a move that would raise their monthly rates near that of their neighboring Yuba City counterparts.
Council members on Tuesday approved a consent calendar, which contains agenda items that are not discussed in open session, with an ordinance that pushes the pay for each of the five electeds to $585 a month, or $7,020 a year.
The raise requires another vote, which a draft of the ordinance shows is expected to take place at the next meeting on May 5.
City officials, in a staff report, said it would go into effect after the next city elections in November.
“I used to laugh at the $300 a month, but after a while it’s almost an insult. Because you put so much into it,” said Mayor Chris Branscum. “Is $585 going to make a difference? I don’t know. But it might make a difference to somebody who wants to run.”
The raise would nearly double the yearly amount the city spends on paying council members from $18,000 to $35,100.
The raise in context
The city last raised its monthly compensation for city council members in 2007.
City officials have said that cities similar to the size of Marysville pay council members monthly amounts between $450 and $650.
State law allows city council members to enact ordinances that pay them up to a certain monthly amount, based on the city’s population. Clocking in at roughly 12,000 residents, Marysville falls within the lowest population tier, which permits council members to receive up to $950 a month.
The seats held by Councilmembers Bruce Buttacavoli and Brad Hudson will be up for election in November. The raise would go into effect after the council members elected in the upcoming elections are sworn in to their posts in January, city officials said.
The proposed raise would set the monthly pay of Marysville council members near that of Yuba City council members, who earn $600 per month on a five-member council. Yuba City, with a population of about 70,000, could pay its officials up to $1,275 per month, per state law.
Pay in other jurisdictions?
Last year, Sutter County supervisors walked back an attempt to raise their salaries $20,000 after facing a wave of online backlash. That proposed raise was recommended by a county grand jury, which highlighted that Sutter County supervisors, who each earn $34,500, plus benefits, make less than their peers in surrounding counties.
Yuba County supervisors make almost $86,500 a year, including about $1,700 a month collected for their joint roles as Yuba Water Agency board directors.
Earlier this month, Folsom City Council members, by a narrow 3-2 margin, approved a 217% pay raise for themselves, upping their monthly pay from $7,200 a year to $22,800.
Those who favored the Folsom raises cited the prospect of added diversity to the council, as a larger field of community members could presumably consider the time commitment required to run for and serve on the council, The Bee reported.
Similar arguments have criticized the incentive structure of low-paying boards, which may limit potential candidates to those who are wealthy or retired.
“I don’t know if basically working for nothing would inhibit someone from wanting to run and what have you, that was one of the considerations, but it’s not to feather anybody’s nest,” Branscum said.
“It’s just to bring it up a little bit. We were at the very bottom of the scale, and moved it up about halfway up from what it could’ve been otherwise.”
This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 11:30 AM.
