Is council earning its pay?

DOWNTOWN TOLEDO - Are Toledo City Council members earning their pay?

After spending nearly a day crunching numbers, FOX Toledo has found out of the 12 council members, Frank Szollosi (41), Michael Ashford (36), Phil Copeland (32), and Lindsay Webb (22) have missed the most council committee meetings during the calendar year.

Betty Shultz (3), Szollosi (2) and Copeland (2) have missed the most council meetings in 2008.

The information was culled from a review of the Toledo City Journal, which documents what happens at council meetings. This information, though, dates up to November 2008.

The city charter points out council members should give back one percent of their salary if they miss a committee meeting, two percent if they miss a council meeting. In most cases, Toledo council members are usually excused.

But if they were not, they would owe a lot of money. Each council member earns $27,500 annually.

If the paycheck deduction was enforced, the City of Toledo could see an estimated $64,625 into this year's budget.

(FOX Toledo's Shaun Hegarty and Kristi Leigh contributed to this report)