D.C. lawmakers are moving ahead on letting some city agency heads — including the police chief and schools chancellor — earn more money than previously allowed, but so far have stopped short of pushing for transparency regarding other perks for those officials. The bill the council is considering creates a salary exception for the current pay of Police Chief Cathy Lanier, Chief of the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Kenneth Ellerbe, D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Chief Medical Examiner Marie-Lydie Pierre-Louis.
The proposal, entered at the request of Mayor Vincent Gray, allows all four mayoral appointees to keep their salaries, which range from $180,000 to $275,000 annually. However it caps the annual pay at their current value and says that whoever succeeds those officials in the jobs are not entitled to similar pay. Lanier and Henderson earn far more than Mayor Vincent Gray’s annual salary of $200,000.
