Did Coral Gables mayor and vice mayor keep or donate the raises they voted against?
When Coral Gables city commissioners voted to give themselves major raises and new car allowances in 2023, the two dissenting votes, Mayor Vince Lago and Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, vowed not to accept the increases.
Community members lauded Lago’s and Anderson’s decision to vote against increasing their annual compensation by tens of thousands of dollars. The vote would go on to be one of several 3-2 decisions that divided the City Commission into two factions, with Lago and Anderson on one side, and Commissioners Ariel Fernandez, Melissa Castro and Kirk Menendez having the majority.
The salary vote happened 1.5 years ago. But now, as Lago and Anderson campaign for reelection next month, they have used the raises as a talking point to show their commitment to transparency and good governance. The salary vote is especially relevant for Lago, who is facing a challenge from one of the commissioners who supported the raises, Menendez.
Ahead of a competitive April 8 election, the Miami Herald followed up with Lago and Anderson to see whether they had donated the increases to their compensation that they condemned back in 2023. While both said that they had given to charity, neither provided documentation of their donations despite receiving multiple requests.
In the mayor’s race — where Lago and Menendez are running alongside an unlikely political newcomer — that leaves residents with a choice between an incumbent mayor who’s asking voters to accept his word that he made the donations and a commissioner who voted for a 101% raise for himself.
How the vote affected paychecks
The vote to raise elected officials’ annual compensation — which includes salary, an expense account and a car allowance — brought Lago’s yearly pay from $50,905 to $87,046 and Anderson’s from $44,085 to $85,046.
Lago, whose annual compensation as a part-time elected official increased by 71% as a result of the vote, pledged in a meeting at the time that “I’m going to give it back to a charity. I’m not going to accept it.”
Anderson’s annual compensation nearly doubled as a result. But she said in a September 2023 email to the Miami Herald that she would be accepting a small cost-of-living increase of less than 3% and would consult with her accountant about the logistics of donating the rest of the increased compensation.
In explaining her reasoning at an October 2023 meeting, Anderson said she wouldn’t be able to look city employees “in the face” knowing she accepted a major raise while their pay may have increased by only a small percentage, saying it is “simply something I can’t do, and I won’t.”
“I’d rather focus on getting them the raises that they deserve than think about myself. And that’s why I’ve declined this raise,” Anderson said.
But the three commissioners who supported the raises put the mayor and vice mayor in a difficult position. They voted down a proposal from Lago and Anderson to revert their compensation to what it was before the raises, plus the small annual increase, which would have still allowed Menendez, Castro and Fernandez to receive the increases.
That left the city with no mechanism to lower Lago’s and Anderson’s salaries.
The raises also included a $3,600 increase to Lago’s annual expense account and a $4,800 increase to Anderson’s, in addition to new car allowances of $8,446 per year. Elected officials receive their monthly car allowance and expense allowance directly in their paychecks, rather than getting reimbursed later, according to city spokeswoman Martha Pantin.
“There is no mechanism not to pay them their salary, car allowance or expense allowance,” Pantin said in a statement. “We have not received any payment from them identified as a return of their salary, car allowance or expense allowance.”
What did they do with the raises?
The Herald asked Lago and Anderson to provide any documentation memorializing donations they made, including the name of the organization they donated to, the date of the donation and the dollar amount.
While both candidates said they have made donations, neither provided any documentation to corroborate them.
Lago said in an email this month that he “chose to donate my portion to local charities as part of my ongoing commitment to giving back to the community.”
“I have made charitable donations in the past year that exceed the amount of the compensation increase I never wanted, voted against, and was forced to accept by Commissioners Kirk Menendez, Ariel Fernandez and Melissa Castro,” Lago said.
However, following multiple requests, Lago did not provide documentation or further details about his donations, such as the names of the charities, dates of donations or dollar amounts.
When asked in person this month to name one of the charities he donated to, Lago responded: “It’s a lot,” before walking away.
Anderson provided a list of organizations she said she has donated to, with the caveat that “... by no means do I represent that it is a complete or accurate list of all donations made.”
Anderson said she has donated to:
CG Community Foundation (Merrick society, plus special fundraisers and projects)
CGGC (trees, programs)
CG Museum
Ronald McDonald House
Rotary
Camp Mahachee Restoration
Girl Scouts
Junior League (WWMD, Food Rescue, etc.)
Church (Food Bank, Restoration, General fund)
Coral Gables High, Friends of (cash)
Coral Gables High, donation of trees, plants, mulch, supplies, etc.
City: donation of Electric Bike to Police Dept
City: donation of endangered plants for parks
Womens Club, donation of plants and installation of trees of plants (Hedge, Torchwood Trees, hose, Black Bead, mulch, firebush, flower plants, hose, and misc. Supplies)
City: pressure washer
Reached via email, Anderson did not directly respond to questions seeking further details about her donations, nor did she respond to a subsequent email asking if the amount she donated was in the same neighborhood as her compensation increase.
How the raises happened
The 2023 salary vote drew scrutiny to the Coral Gables City Commission and sowed further division between the two emerging factions of commissioners.
Instead of being voted on as a separate item, the raises were included as part of the 2024 budget that needed commission approval. That led to accusations from Lago and Anderson that the raises were being buried in the budget to avoid input from residents.
Peter Iglesias, who was the city manager at the time, said in a recent interview with the Herald that Menendez was the first commissioner who approached him to ask about getting raises for elected officials.
According to Iglesias, he then briefed Fernandez and Castro on the raise proposal, and they quickly expressed their support.
“When I get three that want something, that’s when any city manager acts,” said Iglesias, who was terminated from his position in February 2024.
Iglesias said that because the raises were included in the $263 million budget and not as their own item that would be marked on a commission meeting agenda, he made the decision to add a clause about the raises to the overall budget ordinance that would go before the City Commission, in addition to having the finance department include the salary increases in a presentation at a public budget hearing.
“I’m not going to hide anything. ... It was a way of doing it in the sunshine,” Iglesias told the Herald, referencing Florida’s public records and public meetings law.
Menendez said in a statement this week that he wasn’t “surprised” by the former city manager’s comments, saying Iglesias “has an ax to grind, because he was fired for insubordination and neglect of his responsibilities.” Menendez cast the deciding vote to fire Iglesias, while Lago and Anderson wanted to keep him.
Menendez also alleged that Lago has promised to re-hire Iglesias if he wins the April election and that “anything that duo says should be taken with a grain of salt or two.” In response, Iglesias said: “I’ve been offered a job by a number of people,” but that “I am not coming back” to the public sector. Lago denied offering to rehire Iglesias at all.
Reached for comment, Castro and Fernandez said Iglesias was the one who brought up the proposed raises in their briefings and that he told them there was support among other commissioners for the proposal. Fernandez also said Iglesias told him that changes to commission compensation have “always been done in the budget.”
“Every member of the commission was informed about this prior to it being discussed at the first budget hearing,” Fernandez said. He added that the proposed raises were discussed publicly at two budget hearings and a city commission meeting before they were approved and that he sent out a newsletter two days after the first budget vote that specifically referenced the proposal to increase “commission compensation.”
Iglesias confirmed that he also briefed Anderson and Lago about the proposed raises before the first of two September 2023 budget hearings. However, he denied telling Castro and Fernandez that there was already commission support for the raises. He also said he didn’t tell Fernandez that commission raises are done through the budget.
“It’s not a normal thing in the budget at all,” Iglesias said.
In explaining his reasoning for supporting the raises, Menendez said elected officials’ compensation had not been meaningfully increased in decades. However, moving forward, Menendez said that he is proposing legislation to require voter approval for future increases to elected officials’ compensation in the Gables.
Lago and Anderson both said around the time of the 2023 vote that they were taken aback by the amounts being proposed for raises, which Lago called “exorbitant.” The changes increased the three commissioners’ compensation by 101%, the vice mayor’s by 93% and the mayor’s by 71%.
The pair accused their colleagues of attempting to bury the raises in the budget to prevent the public from weighing in on them. Lago and Anderson advocated sending the raises to voters in a ballot question, or at the very least hosting a dedicated public meeting about the proposal. But the mayor and vice mayor were outvoted by their colleagues.
Prior to the raises, Coral Gables elected officials received the following compensation:
- Mayor: $44,905 salary, plus a $6,000 annual expense allowance
- Vice mayor: $39,285 salary and a $4,800 annual expense allowance
- Commissioner: $36,488 salary and a $4,800 annual expense allowance
None of the officials had a car allowance prior to the September 2023 vote.
The commissioners who supported the raises argued that increasing the compensation would entice less wealthy people to run for office. They also stated that, despite the fact that they are designated as part-time officials, the job is akin to full-time work.
In an email to the Herald this month, Anderson criticized what she called “the highly deceptive and secretive manner three commissioners sought increases in salary, unrestricted expense accounts and vehicle monthly stipends.”
Anderson took issue with the process, saying it is “clear that the manner chosen deliberately sought to keep this issue from being noticed by the average residents.”
“As such,” she continued, “I considered the funds tainted as ill-gotten gains, so I did not and could not vote in favor of accepting or otherwise condoning the manner in which the commissioners clearly failed to transparently present or discuss the matter on a duly and timely noticed city commission Agenda.”
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