Port Royal council members vote to give themselves pay raises of more than 200%
Port Royal Town Council members voted to give themselves pay raises of more than 200% when they approved the 2026 budget Tuesday. Officials in the town of 16,000, where rapid development is consuming more time of paid staff and elected officials, said it’s been decades since council members last had a salary increase.
Port Royal council members currently earn $3,600 a year, while the mayor gets $4,800. That puts them at the low end of the spectrum compared to neighboring communities like Beaufort, Bluffton and Hilton Head.
In the 2026 budget, money was set aside to increase the salaries for council members to $12,000, a 233% increase, and $15,000 for the mayor, a 212% increase. That’s what Beaufort council members and the mayor earn.
Bluffton council members make $11,000 a year and the mayor, $16,500. In Hilton Head, the mayor’s salary is $25,000 and council members get $12,800.
Under state law, the raises can’t be enacted until after the election of at least two members of the body. After that, all members of the body can then receive the pay hike. The next election in Port Royal is November when seats held by Mary Beth Heyward and Darryl Owens are up for election.
At a June 4 budget work session, Mayor Kevin Phillips somewhat sheepishly brought up the idea of raising council salaries, a suggestion he said was raised by town staff and not council members. “It’s a weird thing to talk about,” said Phillips.
Salaries for the mayor and council members have remained the same since at least 2002, which is when he joined the town, Town Manager Van Willis said.
Council members attend 24 regular council meetings and workshops throughout the year, Willis said. Those meetings equate to about $2 an hour or less, at least before the pay raise.
“You think of all the obligations you have as a council person, you’re at minimum 30 to 50 events per year,” Willis said.
Recently, council members have been working on an $11 million budget and the details of a settlement with Safe Harbor Marinas over the redevelopment of the waterfront. Wrestling with growth, such as apartment construction and short-term rentals, while protecting the town’s environment, has been a theme of the work the past few years.
Councilwoman Heyward, the longest serving council member, held up a yellow newspaper clipping from her first election in 1992. The council has not had a raise in the 33 years since then that she can remember.
“If we were here for the money,” Heyward said, “I made a mistake somewhere.”
Phillips, the mayor, hopes the additional pay spurs talented candidates of varying ages, jobs and backgrounds to run for office in the future.
Last week, at a budget meeting, the council directed the town staff to include the pay raise in the budget that was scheduled to be voted on Tuesday if it could be done without affecting other programs or the two-mill cut in the tax rate. State law does not require a separate ordinance to approve pay increases. Salaries may be included in another ordinance, such as the $11.1 million budget approved Tuesday.
The budget also includes an across-the-board 3% cost-of-living raise for employees while police officers will get an additional 2% increase for a total of 5%. As for taxes, the tax rate is being reduced from 74 to 72 mills. A $956,370 spending increase is mostly the result of additional personnel expenses increases in insurance of all types, Willis said previously.
