Loganville City council votes to approve future pay raise

Increase will take effect first of 2028

With a 4-2 Thursday vote at the May 2026 regular meeting, the Loganville City Council approved an ordinance that will boost the compensation of the mayor and council— beginning Jan. 1, 2028 – for the first time in 14 years.

Councilwoman Lisa Newberry and Councilman Keith Colquitt cast the two votes against the increased compensation, with Councilwomen Melanie Long and Patti Wolfe and Councilmen Wes Johnson and Bill DuVall voting in favor of the hike. The mayor doesn’t have a vote except in the case of a tie.

When the move becomes effective, compensation for the mayor will jump from $1,000 per month to $1,250 per month, an annual increase from $12,000 to $15,000.

Councilmembers’ monthly compensation will increase from $500 to $750 monthly, going from $6,000 to $9,000 annually. To claim the higher compensation, both Newberry and DuVall will have to be reelected, should they choose to run in 2027 balloting at the end of their current four-year terms. Wolfe is in the same situation, but said recently she does not plan to seek reelection to a new four-year term. Colquitt, who voted against the hike, was elected to the council in last year’s balloting, and will see the increased compensation for the last two years of his term. Also in that situation are Johnson, who was elected to the council last year, and Long, who has served multiple council terms and was reelected in 2025 balloting.

Mayor Branden Whitfield, who was elected in last year’s balloting, also will see his compensation increased prior to having to stand for reelection, should he choose to run again in 2029.

The council had discussed increasing compensation for mayoral and council work earlier in the year, with Long contending at a March meeting that “for a city our size, we’re way be- hind where we should be … so I do think it’s time.”

Long, noting the lag between a vote on hiking compensation and the implementation of higher pay, in March called increasing that pay “something that you’re doing for the future.”

A recent informal Tribune look at council salaries in cities with similar populations to Loganville, which is home to somewhere around 18,000 people, found the east Georgia city of Grovetown notching a lower council salary, at $5,000 annually, according to

Georgia Department of Community Affairs data from 2024. By comparison, the four council-members in the slightly larger northwest Georgia city of Calhoun are paid $8,400 annually, or $700 monthly, while the five council-members in the slightly smaller central Georgia town of Milledgeville are paid $9,600 annually, or $800 monthly, according to the DCA tabulation.