Voters could decide on longer council terms, higher pay and other charter amendments this November if the City Council gives the proposals the green light Tuesday.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi City Council will decide Tuesday whether to send a series of proposed City Charter amendments to voters, including changes that would extend council terms, increase term limits and raise pay for elected officials.

The proposals are part of a package of 10 charter amendments put forward by Council Members Carolyn Vaughn, Kaylynn Paxson and Gil Hernandez. If approved by the council, each amendment could appear on the November ballot, though Hernandez said some of the proposals are interconnected and may be grouped together.



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“Some of them are combined. You can’t have one without the other,” Hernandez said. “If you extend the term limits, that also creates the need to stagger them and have individual places for the at-large positions.”

Hernandez said extending council terms from two years to four years would also require at-large council races to be decided by a majority vote rather than a plurality under state law.

“Instead of a plurality, where you can get elected with 12% of the vote, you actually have to get 50% of the vote to get elected,” Hernandez said. “Candidates would have to file for a specific position and receive 50% plus one vote to win. The Texas Constitution also requires that if you’re going to have four-year terms, you have to have a 50%-plus-one election.”

Among the most significant proposals are extending council terms from two years to four years and increasing term limits from eight years to 12 years. 

Hernandez said the changes would give elected officials more time to carry out their responsibilities while making them more accountable for the decisions they make.

“A lot of this is putting the accountability on the elected official,” Hernandez said. “When you have short term limits, a lot of that power shifts to the bureaucrat and not to the elected official.”

Hernandez, who is term-limited and cannot benefit from the proposed changes himself unless he were to run for mayor, said he trusts voters to ultimately decide whether the amendments are appropriate.

Not everyone on the council agrees.

At-Large Council Member Roland Barrera, who is also term-limited, said shorter terms allow voters to hold elected officials accountable more frequently.

“If I’m doing a bad job, then you have two years to be able to replace me with somebody who’s doing a better one,” Barrera said.

Barrera also questioned proposed changes to the city’s at-large election system, noting it was established following federal voting rights litigation in the early 1980s that replaced Corpus Christi’s previous all at-large election method.

Another proposal would change how elected officials are compensated. Council members currently receive a flat salary of $6,000 per year. The amendment would instead tie council members’ pay to the equivalent of a full-time employee earning the federal minimum wage, with the mayor slated to earn 25% more than the proposed council pay rate.

Hernandez said the current salary, which was established in the 1980s, is outdated.

“Instead of having to go back and change the charter with a static number, just tie it to something like the federal minimum wage and then be done with it,” he said.

Barrera, meanwhile, argued serving on the council is intended to be public service rather than a full-time position.

“Basically it’s community service,” Barrera said. “It’s not a county commission race. It’s not necessarily a full-time job.”

Mayor Paulette Guajardo also opposes the proposed amendments.

In a statement to 3NEWS, Guajardo said:

“I cannot support a 151% pay increase for the City Council while they refuse to build a long-term water supply for our community. These proposed Charter amendments deserve careful public scrutiny because they raise serious concerns about accountability, compensation, and the process by which they were advanced. I will not be supporting these amendments, and I believe there are legitimate legal questions surrounding them. The focus should always be on what is best for the taxpayers of Corpus Christi.”

If the council approves the proposed amendments Tuesday, Corpus Christi voters will have the final say during the November election.