The Baltimore County Council proposed raising the salaries of members from $69,000 to $119,000 a year in legislation introduced this week.

The bill would increase the council chair’s salary from $77,000 to $129,750.

A companion piece of legislation would boost the county executive’s salary to $240,000 a year, a nearly 20% increase. The current county executive, Kathy Klausmeier, finishes her term at the end of this year. Her successor is expected to be Democratic Councilman Julian Jones or Republican Pat Dyer.

The salary increases for members stem from the voters’ decision to expand the council from seven to nine members, which takes effect in December. Though the council is considered a part-time job, several members do not have other employment.

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The legislation expanding the council indicated that members and the chair would be paid as full-time employees. It does not bar council members from taking outside work, though the idea was that other jobs would not be necessary with a salary that is more in line with the cost of living.

Members could then solely focus on the work of their districts, which ranges from protecting dangerous intersections to addressing school overcrowding to helping constituents address flooding.

Two members running for reelection, Democratic Chair Mike Ertel and Republican David Marks, hold other jobs.

The new county executive and new council members take office in December, a month after the election.

Baltimore County has evolved since 1956, when the first seven-member, part-time council was seated. The current members who voted to ask voters to expand and make the council full time felt that, to attract quality candidates, they had to increase the salaries.

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The council passed, then rescinded, earlier legislation that tied the increases in salaries to bumps in their pensions. That law would have allowed current council members to receive far larger pension increases than those available to county employees. The council rolled back the legislation after a public outcry.

As three current council members ran for county executive this year, the pension bump became a campaign liability.

WYPR first reported the news of the salary legislation.

The council did not discuss the legislation at its meeting this week. It will discuss the measures at a work session at 4 p.m. Tuesday.