Miami mayor is given $53,000 pay raise: Miami commissioners boosted Mayor Manny Diaz's salary from $97,000 to $150,000 Thursday. The raise wasn't on the agenda. No members of the public were there.

Publication: The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Miami Herald

Byline: Michael Vasquez, The Miami Herald

Dec. 16--Swiftly, with little debate, Miami city commissioners Thursday unanimously voted to boost Miami Mayor Manny Diaz's salary by more than 54 percent, from $97,000 to $150,000. No angry taxpayer showed up to oppose the raise, probably because virtually no Miami resident knew what city leaders were up to. Thursday's commission meeting agenda -- available to the public well in advance -- included no mention of the mayor's salary, and the issue was raised at the end of the day's business, after any resident who had a reason to be in commission chambers had already left. Commissioner Johnny Winton, a strong Diaz ally, introduced the resolution awarding the mayor a raise as a "pocket item" -- a term for a last-minute, typically time-sensitive city action that is brought up and voted on even though the public was never notified beforehand. The resolution...

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