The Bend City Council during a work session. (Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin file photo)

While we agree that Bend’s city councilors, including the mayor, deserve a larger stipend for their duties overseeing city government, there’s a right way to approach the problem and a wrong way. The recommendation from the city’s compensation committee is on the wrong track in some ways.

The committee voted Feb. 20 to tie the stipend to a percentage of the median income in the city. Its members chose 10 percent of median, or $6,460, for councilors. It also believes future increases in the stipend for councilors and mayor should be indexed to that same median.

As former Bend Mayor Jim Clinton noted, that’s a novel idea. Yet in virtually every other job, and in such programs as Social Security, pay increases are tied to the rate of inflation because those relate directly to the cost of living. There’s no valid reason for tying stipends to a number that can be more a reflection of who lives in a community than in the actual cost of living.

The committee also believes the mayor should be paid double what councilors receive, or more than $12,000 per year.

Whoa! What is it about the mayor’s job that makes it worth twice what councilors might get?

Nothing, frankly.

True, Bend’s mayors have more duties than councilors have. The city charter says the mayor will preside over council meetings, enforce council rules and set the order of business for council meetings.

Mayors do more than that. They meet with the city manager before meetings. They may be invited to more events than other councilors. They’re often the de facto point of contact for residents, and they get what may be an undue share of either blame or credit when people speak of city government. They may become more directly involved in recruiting new businesses to the community.

Even with those added duties, however, a mayor’s title should not bring with it double pay. It’s not twice the job of a councilor.