TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Tallahassee city commissioners will receive a $50,000 salary increase in October 2025 after voters approve the measure at the ballot box. Now, the commissioners will earn about the same as their county counterparts, about $100,000 a year.

The pay raise is one of five changes voters approved to the city’s charter or constitution. The charter can only be changed by the voters, not the commission itself.

Ernie Paine, a former member of Tallahassee’s ethics board, said it appears voters were well informed about each change. Unofficial election results show that each measure had varying degrees of support, suggesting voters weren’t just checking all yes or all no.

Raising the pay of city commissioners the only one within about 10,000 votes, but still managed 56% approval.

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“In general, I think the changes were beneficial,” Paine said. “They were rational to strengthen city government.”

Other changes approved by voters included expanding the jurisdiction of the city’s ethics board, giving them more power to investigate commissioners even when they serve on other boards.

For example, the ethics board can now investigate whether a commissioner violates ethics rules during meetings with the Community Redevelopment Agency. City commissioners often sit on other boards by virtue of their election to the commission itself.

The city’s watchdog, known as the Inspector General, will now be harder to fire. Instead of three commissioners having to vote the position down, four will be needed. Any firing must also be for a good reason, known as “for cause,” not just because the commissioners didn’t like a particular investigation.

The city charter itself will also be reviewed every ten years. A review committee will meet in June 2033, Paine said, unless the City Commission calls for it sooner.

But just because a review is now required every ten years does not mean that the Commission has to wait that long.

“All they need is 10% of the signatures of the elected voters in Tallahassee to put an amendment on the ballot,” Paine said. “It’s also been done to create the independent ethics board. Other options are available, so people should be aware of that and not just say, ‘No, we can’t have more charter changes in another 10 years.’

Finally, the city will not have a primary if only two candidates are running. This is to prevent an incumbent commissioner who loses from spending weeks in office without a mandate.

The changes will all take effect once the election is ratified, Paine said. For the IG protection, he said the city commission will need to introduce an “implementing ordinance.”

The new charter amendment calls for a five-year term for the IG, but doesn’t specify when that term begins, so the commission will have to iron out the rules.

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